LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 

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UNITED STATES OP AMERICA. 



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CHIEF SIGNAL OFFICER, U. S. ARMY. 



THE 



FARMER'S Friend 



AND 



PLANTER'S GUIDE. 



PRACTICAL INFORMATION 



SOR THX 



FARMER, PLANTER AND FLORIST. 



^^ BY 

JOHN V. PLOUGHSHARE, n^ \ .. 



V 



PHILADELPHIA : 
J. M. STODDART & CO. 



V/^V^ i?w ^ 






Copyright, 

J. M. Stoddart & Co. 

1882. 



Westcott & Thomson, 
%Stereotypers and JLlectroiy^ers^ Philada. 



HOW THE WEATHER-PROPHETS PROGNOSTICATE. 



PROF. HENRY G. VENNOR S SYSTEM OF FORECASTS. 

" First and foremost, I examine myself respecting impressions 
fortned intuitively from recent outdoor life. These I always find 
lurking in some corner of my mind, and ready to put themselves into 
shape when called for. On some occasions one of these in particular 
will loom up definitely above all others, and urge strongly its claims ; 
while at other times a number present themselves, all equally plau- 
sible and likely. In rare instances I search and find no definite 
impressions formed, but all alike faint and flickering ; and I may 
state here that on such occasions I feel considerable hesitation in 
hazarding a forecast. My first step, then, is to write down on a 
sheet of paper, off hand, the main impression or impressions which 
naturally occur ,to me. This is what some people have called 
' guessing.' It may be so ; but if so, it is ' guessing ' based upon 
outdoor — not closet — experience, and consists of natural inferences 
from Nature's laws. The forecast, however, thus written down is 
not yet to be settled upon as the proper one ; other steps are neces- 
sary. The next is to draw up from field notes an abstract of the 
actual weather experienced during the whole summer, noting care- 
fully every leading feature. Has it been a year of drought, rain, 
heat, or cold ? Has it been marked by severe storms, or by calm, 
equable weather-? All are carefully noted, and averages are taken 
of temperature, rainfall, storms, etc. Newspaper clippings, cover- 
ing the length and breadth of the Dominion, are next studied, and 
the weather-items sorted and systematically arranged for further 
reference. Now, from all these data, and guided by past experience 
in such matters, I write off another — a No. 2 — forecast, in the prep- 
aration of which I do not allow myself to be in the slightest degree 
influenced by the first, or No. i, forecast. Next, setting these two 
forecasts aside and obliterating them entirely, if possible, frpm my 
mind, a third is prepared in the manner following : Diagrams of the 
weather of some thirty years are spread out and posted up on my 
study-wall. These at a glance show the general character of the 
past springs, summers, and autumns, and, further, the winters which 
have followed these. The diagram, say, of our last spring and 
summer is in my hand, and the problem to be solved is embodied 
in the question now asked me — viz. : What are our approaching 
autumn, winter, and spring to be like ? Most assuredly, these will 
resemble in some respects some of those which have preceded 

3 



PROF. TICE S PREDICTIONS. 



them. Sitting down in my easy-chair in the middle of my room, I 
gaze long and earnestly at that terrible array of weather-charts on 
my wall. After hours, perhaps days, of patient comparison, I find 
what appears to suit the case in hand — namely, one or more years 
that sufficiently resemble in their leading characteristics the one we 
are inquiring about. From the diagrams of these I draw out the 
last, or No. 3, forecast, and the hardest portion of my task is done. 
I now have three forecasts before me, perchance all similar, prob- 
ably all diverse. 

" No. I is the leading impression intuitively formed. 

" No. 2 consists of natural deductions from the actual weather ex- 
perienced during the past season. 

" No. 3 is based upon analogy and a close comparison of former 
weather-charts. 

" My manner of proceeding now is different in different cases. Are 
all forecasts fairly similar ? Then I guide myself mainly by my first 
or leading impression. Are two only alike ? Then I rearrange and 
form these into one. Are all different? Then I depend chiefly 
upon that naturally deduced from the action of thS past six months. 
In this way are my general outlines formed. Further details, which 
I have several times attempted during the winter, have been chiefly 
deduced from the comparison of weather-charts of past years, but 
this has been found to be an insecure basis to build upon, and I 
have, as I deserved to, failed repeatedly in these attempts. But I 
here maintain that my general outlines have been in the main cor- 
rect, although I have on several occasions spoiled the effects of these 
by subsequent attempts to give them in greater detail." 

PROFESSOR tick's PREDICTIONS. 

Professor Tice, in his Almanac, published at St. Louis, Mo., makes 
forecasts of the weather for every day in the year, based upon the 
theory that there are meteorological cycles that are fixed and de- 
termined by astronomical events. Those who believe the moon 
and the stars affect the weather will therefore gather round this oracle 
and listen eagerly to his predictions. But those who think it is 
somewhat more than human to predict with anything like certainty 
what a given day will bring forth, will prefer to anchor their faith on 
his Canadian fellow-prophet, or rest content with their own prognos- 
tications, or such as may be deduced from the bears, squirrels, and 
the Kentucky goose-bone. 

In this Mr. Tice has done no more than the almanac-makers 
from the year One ; and it is probable that except where he has been 
guided by scientific investigations, which may be accurate for cer- 



DE voe's rules. , • 5 



tain periods, or when chances may happen to bear out his forecasts, 
his daily weather-menu must be far from accurate. 

But let the weathercock whirl in its socket, the dog keep up his 
grass diet, the weather-bureau hoist the storm-signal, the goose-bone 
flourish, the cirrus, cumulus, stratus, and nimbus clouds gather, Pro- 
fessor Tice publish his national almanac based on the theory that the 
weather is determined by Venus and Jupiter, still the world wags on. 



A mackerel sky, 
The wind will be high : 
Then bring in the grain ; 
Close by there is rain. 

DE VOE'S RULES FOR WIND AND WEATHER, 



Mr. a. J. De Voe of Hackensack, N. J., gives the following ten 
short rules by the use of which a person can stand beneath his own 
vine and fig tree in any part of the northern hemisphere (north of 
latitude fifteen) and for hundreds of miles around him he can form 
an accurate opinion how the wind and weather are progressing : 

1. When the temperature falls suddenly, there is a storm forming 

south of you. 

2. When the temperature rises suddenly, there is a storm forming 

north of you. 

3. The wind always blows from a region of fair weather toward a 
region where a storm is forming. 

4. Cirrus* clouds always move from a region where a storm is in 
progress toward a region of fair weather. 

5. Cumulus t clouds always move from a region of fair weather 
toward a region where a storm is forming. 

6. When cirrus clouds are moving rapidly from the north or north- 
west, there will be rain in less than twenty-four hours, no matter 
how cold it may be. 

7. When cirrus clouds are moving rapidly from the south or south- 
west, there will be a cold rain-storm on the morrow if it be summer, 
and if it be winter there will be a snow-storm. 

8. The wind always blows in a large circle around a storm ; and 
when it blows from the north, the heaviest rain is east of you ; if it 



* A form of cloud composed of thin filaments, the union of which resembles some- 
times a brush, sometimes masses of woolly hair, and again a slender n&t\vorV..—Nichol. 

t This form' is somewhat elevated, and appears in large masses of a hemispherical 
form, or nearly so, above, but flat below, one often piled above another, forming great 
clouds, common in the summer, and presenting the appearance of gigantic mounuins 
crowned with snow. — Webster. 



DE VOe's rules. 



blows from the south, the heaviest rain is west ; if it blows from the 
east, the heaviest rain is south ; if it blows from the west, the heav- 
iest rain is north of you. 

9. The wind never blows unless rain or snow is falling within one 
thousand miles of you. 

10. Whenever a heavy white frost occurs, a storm is forming with- 
in one thousand miles north or north-west of you. 

If any scientific gentleman has an idea that he can prove any of 
the above rules incorrect, I am ready and anxious to meet him. 

WINTER RULES. 

The following short rules may be of value to many if they will 
observe them : 

1. When the wind shifts from the west to north and from north 
to east, it will rain in less than forty-eight hours, no matter how cold 
it may be. 

2, When the wind shifts from west to south and from south to 
east, there will be a snow-storm, and, although it may be warm, the 
temperature will suddenly fall. A. J. De Voe, 

Hackensack, Jan. 24, 1882. Meteorologist. 

A friend adds to the above : He does not think any one can or 
pretends to tell with certainty for a month ahead the kind of weather 
it will be on a certain day. Nor does he believe in " moon-signs " 
having any effect upon the weather, yet there are many who do. He 
says he believes in the barometer foretelling a change more certain- 
ly than anything else. His rule is : When the wind is west or south- 
west, and it "backs " to the south and south-east, with the mercury 
falling in the barometer, it is always followed by rain or snow ; and 
if it goes east, much rain or snow (with the mercury falling) ; this 
rule has not missed once in his observations for nine years. He 
thinks it will pay any farmer or mechanic, whose occupation is out 
of doors, to keep a barometer and get used to its readings. Learn 
to read the clouds, say as in above rules ; watch the wind and the 
barometer, and he will be rarely mistaken in these as a reliable 
combination for short periods of time. W. P. H. 



The dimness of the stars and other heavenly bodies is one of the 
surest signs of very rainy weather. 

— Sheep huddle together at the approach of bad weather, and 
turn their tails toward its direction. Dogs and cats feel lazy at the 
approach of rain. The reason is, because the air is deficient in 
oxygen, and the damp depresses the nervous system. 



NEW WEATHER-PHILOSOPHY. 



A NEW EXPOSITION OF WEATHER-PHILOSOPHY. 



The Cycle Theory — Illustrations of its Accuracy. 



Are climatic changes governed by natural law ? If so, is the tra- 
cing of that law within the power of science ? 

If the sun and moon, in their ever-varying motions around the 
earth, cause ever-varying tidal-waves in the great ocean of waters, 
they must produce similar but far greater and more striking results 
on the still vaster and more flexible ocean of the earth's atmosphere. 
Nor can it be reasonably doubted that the attracting power of the 
larger planets must exert a sensible effect on the great atmospheric 
ocean, though their influence be entirely unappreciable on the wa- 
tery one. 

These are the changeable factors of the weather-problem. That 
of the moon is repeated every nineteen years, very nearly ; that of 
the planets, in cycles so vast as to make it practically impossible to 
make use of it in that form. It is the only complex or difficult part 
of the problem. All the others are simple and admit of an easy so- 
lution. As to the complex planetary one, it can only be solved by 
an apphcation of the problem of the three bodies, in conjunction 
with a long and careful observation of the various several and com- 
bined effects of the planets. In this way only can science grasp the 
amount of perturbation resulting at different times, and apply it to 
the effects of the other known factors. It is a fact well known to 
astronomers that the earth, the sun and the moon occupy the same 
relative position, very nearly, every nineteen years. Consequently, 
whatever influence the sun and moon exert on the weather ought to 
be repeated, almost exacdy, at each return of the cycle. This it 
really does, except so far as the result is affected by the varying 
complex effect of planetary perturbation. The amount of this per- 
turbation will be in exact proportion as the attracting force of the 
planet operates in conjunction with one or more of the others, or in 
opposition to them, or is separate and independent in its action. 
The amount of this perturbing force can never be very great, and is 
constantly oscillating between its maximum and minimum results. 
Now, the chief weather-factors are the earth, the sun and the moon. 
They, being very nearly in the same relative position every nine- 
teen years, must produce very nearly the same general phases of 
the weather, less the ever-varying effect of the perturbing influence 
of planetary attraction. It is evident, then, that the solution of the 
weather-problem depends on our ability to compute, at least approx- 



8 NEW WEATHER-PHILOSOPHY. 



iniately, the amount of perturbing planetary influence exerted at any 
one particular time and place. This is certainly within the sphere of 
scientific achievement, nor can its accomplishment be long delayed. 

CASES IN POINT. 

It was during the unusually severe and long-continued winter of 
1855-56 that my attention was first turned to the lunar cycle as a 
mode of determining the most prominent general phases of the 
weather for any future time. I found that 1856 was just four lunar 
cycles from the well-remembered hard winter of 1780. I was 
strongly impressed with this remarkable coincidence and its evident 
important significance. On further investigation I found that from 
1780 to 1856 there had occurred every nineteen years a winter of 
remarkable severity. This gave me sufficient confidence in the 
cycle theory to venture the prediction that the winter of 1874-75, 
just nineteeen years from 1856, would be one of uncommon sever- 
ity. It came, and was precisely such a one as its cycle demanded. 

OTHER CYCLE-WINTERS. 

I then began to look after other cycle-winters. I remembered 
that of 1841-42 was an uncommonly mild one, and that of 1842-43 
one of unusual severity. I remembered also that on their next re- 
turn, nineteen years after, they fully verified the cycle theory. I 
then predicted, and published in the newspapers, that 1879-80, the 
next cycle-winter to 1841-42, would be unusually mild, followed 
with a spring of unusual warmth and earliness — that 1880-81, the 
next cycle- winter to 1842-43, would be one of deep snows and in- 
tense cold, followed by a late spring. These predictions were all 
fully verified. But, remembering that the summer of 1843 was very 
warm, and distinguished for heavy rains that fell in July and the 
early part of August, I informed the people that they might expect 
something similar in the summer of 188 1. 

WHEN THE THEORY FAILED. 

But it did not come. Instead of heavy rains, there was exceed- 
ing drought. June was more than usually wet, and made, as I pre- 
dicted, good oat and hay crops. Early-planted potatoes were also 
good. But the corn crop failed, as it does not often fail in Chester 
county. The prediction failed, not through any unsoundness of the 
cycle theory, but because due consideration was not given to the 
very unusual amount of planetary perturbing influence exerted 
almost wholly in one direction during the past summer. It is wor- 
thy of note that during the great drought there were heavy rains in 
New England and on the eastern coast of the Southern States. In 



NEW WEATHER-PHILOSOPHY. 



September and October there were immense floods in the Missis- 
sippi region. In August, when the drought was at its height here, 
the EngHsh harvest was nearly ruined by excessive rains. On the 
Continent and in the West Indies there were unprecedented floods 
during the great drought here. These examples show that drought 
and flood run in narrow veins — movable, we may suppose, in any 
direction by the perturbing power of planetary attraction. 

WHY IT FAILED. 

That this was the real cause of the change in the dry and wet 
areas is rendered almost certain by the fact that the relative situation 
of the planets in the summer of 1843 "^^^ as, different as it could be 
from what it was during the summer of 1881. The truth is, there 
is a drought or dry period some time during almost every year. It 
is only when it occurs in midsummer and seriously injures the crops 
that it attracts any considerable notice. In 1843 there was not 
much rain in October and November, but as a drought then could 
do no injury, it excited no particular attention. In looking over the 
several midsummer droughts that are known to have occurred dur- 
ing the last hundred years, I have become fully convinced that they 
do not, in many instances, obey the cycle rule. It will therefore 
be necessary, in order to predict with any certainty the particular 
locality of a dry or wet area, to take into careful consideration the 
perturbing influence of planetary attraction as compared with that 
of some other dry or wet period. This can only be done with ab- 
solute correctness by the use of scientific apphances not now at my 
command. J. William Thorne. 



R.\iN. — Almost the whole of the rain-water that enters the earth, 
whatever the quantity may be, penetrates the rocks below the sur- 
face. It does so to a variable, though perhaps nowhere a very 
great, depth, being conducted along through underground channels 
and passages, often narrow and curiously contorted, trickling down 
the splits and crevices of the harder rocks or gliding along on the 
surface of the tougher ones. Where interrupted by a belt of im- 
permeable ground it will accumulate — where conveyed to the open 
air it will run off, obeying in all cases the law of gravitation. Oc- 
casionally, where the depth to which it passes is considerable, this 
is shown by the equable and often high temperature to which it 
rises ; and this is not unfrequentiy the case where there is nothing 
in the contents of the water to indicate that it has undergone an 
essential change. 



10 WINTER WEATHER-WISDOM. 



WINTER WEATHER-WISDOM. 



Fair and Foul Weather, as Predicted by the Old- Fashioned Popular Me- 
teorologists — The Signs in the Sky and Nature as Indicative 
of Cliinatological Changes. 



THE COMING WEATHER 

Has always formed a fruitful field for speculation, but it has only 
been of late years that the study of meteorological changes and phe- 
nomena has been reduced to a science and one of the useful arts. 
There are certain natural causes — the clouds no bigger than a man's 
hand — that, to careful observers, always indicate what is coming in 
a weather way for a short time ahead. From time out of mind a 
red sunset has been viewed as a precursor of fair weather, and a red 
sunrise a foreteller of a storm. A bright yellow sky at sunset uni- 
formly denotes wind ; a pale yellow, wet ; and close observers do 
not need the testimony of Admiral Fitzroy to know that a dark, 
gloomy blue sky is windy, and a light, bright blue sky augurs fair 
weather. A high dawn indicates wind ; a low dawn, fine weather. 
A gray sky in the morning presages fine weather. 

SIGNS IN THE SKY. 

One of the most beautiful cloud-formations, the mackerel sky, is 
well known to be denotive of a change. Oftentimes in a clear, 
warm summer day, on the ethereal, unclouded blue of the heavens, 
delicate tracings may be observed like a faint veil or cobweb. These 
invariably presage a decided change within two or three days. Oft- 
entimes these present themselves in the form of strips or narrow 
bands extending from east to west or north to south over the entire 
aerial arch, the storm always coming from the direction pointed out 
by the clouds. Local signs go to show that in winter a dark blue 
cloud over a lake foretells a thaw. When the lower portion, how- 
ever, is dark, and the upper part a gray color, snow may be ex- 
pected. The aurora borealis, when very bright, is invariably fol- 
lowed by a storm, and, usually, intense cold. 

GENERAL WEATHER-SIGNS. 

Certain kinds of stones, which when rain is in the near future be- 
come damp and dark-looking, are excellent barometers. We recall, 
in this connection, a dark gray-colored stone in a shed, from which 
a laborer would successfully foretell approaching mild weather, rain, 
or snow in winter twenty-four hours and over beforehand. 



ANIMAL INSTINCTS. II 



A dog eating grass has been often cited as indicative of coming 
rain. While we have repeatedly seen this verified, it is difficult to 
see according to what law of natural philosophy it operates. Swal- 
lows flying low in pursuit of insects, near the ground or water, is 
well known to be an excellent weather-guide. An old local weather- 
prophet whose predictions, based on the appearance of the clouds 
and natural objects, were wonderfully accurate, often formed his 
forecasts of rain by observing his chickens, which, he informed us, 
shortly before rainfall evinced unusual eagerness in quest of worms 
and other food. Crows clamor louder and frogs croak importu- 
nately on the approach of wet weather. Dogs and cats and other 
animals feel lazy when rain is near at hand, the reason being that 
the air is deficient in oxygen and the damp depresses the nervous 
system. Even fish, through some subtle instinct, appear to be aware 
of the close event of rain, and feed with unusual voracity. All 
anglers are aware of this, and can look back to their largest takes 
as having occurred at such times. 

A CASE IN POINT. 

Geese are unusually garrulous previous to a change of the ele- 
ments. This fact was impressively brought before us while trout- 
fishing in the Dominion some years since. The day in question 
(the 14th of September), as well as the three or four preceding it, 
was warm, hazy, and delightful, with no warning clouds or any 
other apparent avant-coiiriers in the shape of weather-omens to 
denote an approaching change, unless it was the fish, which rose to 
the gaudiest of flies with savage eagerness, large ones leaping a foot 
out of the water in their endeavors to seize the feathered lures. But 
a large flock of geese, which appeared to dispute with the trout the 
possession of the pond, and which had frequently proved a source 
of annoyance while angling, were unusually boisterous and excited, 
with no apparent cause, cackling in the most vociferous manner, 
and flying to and from the pond, with loud gaggling, at frequent 
intervals. "You'll hear from the weather to-morrow," observed a 
local disciple of Walton who acted as our chaperon.; " that means 
a storm." And, sure enough, after the sun descended behind the 
pines with an angry frown, .and, later on, the moon's bright disc 
was obscured by ominous-looking clouds, the temperature fell sud- 
denly, and a three days' rain, a regular equinoxial, and very severe 
cold for the season, set in So much for geese as weather-prophets. 

The odor of the Mephitis is very pronounced before rain, owing 
to the heaviness of the atmosphere, which retains the scent in a 
highly oflensive manner. The singing of the tree-toad is as certain 



12 PLANET-SIGNS. 



a sign that a change to falling weather is approaching, as the shrill 
song of the cicada vibrates with existing heat. A storm is often 
indicated in a manner not to be mistaken in the case of those trou- 
bled with rheumatism, while its approach is rendered at times cer- 
tain by sleeplessness or unusual restlessness. 

SIGNS IN THE SUN AND MOON. 

A ring around the sun or moon stands for an approaching storm, 
its near or distant approach being indicated by its larger or smaller 
circumference. When the sun rises brightly and immediately after- 
ward becomes veiled with clouds, the farmer distrusts the day. 
Rains which begin early in the morning often stop by nine in place 
of " eleven," the hour specified in the old saw, " If it rains before 
seven." 

On a still, quiet day, with scarcely the least wind afloat, the ranch- 
man or farmer can tell the direction of an impending storm by cattle 
sniffing the air in the direction whence it is coming. Lack of dew 
in summer is a rain-sign. Sharp white frosts in autumn and winter 
precede damp weather, and we will stake our reputation as a prophet 
that three successive white frosts are an infallible sign of rain. Spi- 
ders do not spin their webs out of doors before rain. Previous to 
rain flies sting sharper, bees remain in their hives or fly but short dis- 
tances, and almost all animals appear uneasy. In fact, so numerous 
are the signs in the sky and nature that those at all given to obser- 
vation, especially dwellers in the country, need no weather-bureau 
to inform them of near meteorological changes. 

But the few of the many signs we have briefly instanced only 
apply to the immediate future, and have nothing to do with the 
far-seeing weather-prophets whose prognostications, also largely 
based on natural causes, peer into futurity a year in advance. 



The aurora borealis when very bright forebodes stormy, moist, un- 
settled weather. 

— A haze around the sun indicates rain : it is caused by fine rain 
falling in the upper regions of the air ; when it occurs, a rain of five 
or six hours' duration may be expected. 

— A halo round the moon is an indication of rain, it being pro- 
duced by fine rain in the upper regions of the atmosphere. 

— The larger the halo, the nearer the rain-clouds and the sooner 
rain may be expected. 

— A halo round the sun has often been followed by heavy rains. 



FORECASTING SHORT PERIODS. 



1^3 



TO FORECAST THE WEATHER FOR SHORT PERIODS. 



The following table and accompanying remarks will give the 
kind of weather probable to follow the entrance of the moon into 
any of her quarters, and will be found invaluable to the farmer dur- 
ing harvest-season and the gathering of the hay crop, and for all 
operations that need a knowledge of the state of weather likely to 
occur for a short period following the observations : 



o 
o 

s 


TIME OF CHANGE. 


IN SUMMER. 


IN WINTER. 


a 


Between midnight and 2 in 


Fair. 


Hard frost, unless the wind 


o 


the naorning. 




be S. or W. 


s 


Between 2 and 4, morning. 


Cold, with frequent 


Snow and stormy. 






showers. 




"3 S2 


Between 4 and 6, morning. 


Rain. 


Rain. 


'•^ S 


Between 6 and 8, morning. 


Wind and Rain. 


Stormy. 


s§: 


Between 8 and 10, morning. 


Changeable. 


Cold rain, if the wind be 


^M 






W. ; snow, if E. 


3 ii 


Between 10 and 12, morning. 


Frequent showers. 


Cold and high winds. 


?l 


At 12 o'clock, noon, and to 2 


Very rainy. 


Snow or rain. 


£ 3 


p. M. 
Between 2 and 4, afternoon. 


Changeable. 


Fair and mild. 


£n^ 


Between 4 and 6, afternoon. 


Fair. 


Fair. 


C c« 


Between 6 and 8, afternoon. 


Fair, if wind N. 


Fair and frosty, if N. or 


8>^ 




W. ; rainy, if S. 


N. E. ; rain or snow, if 


SS 




or S. W. 


S. or S. W. 


•* 


Between 8 and 10, afternoon. 


Fair, if wind N. 


Fair and frosty, if N. or 


V 




W. ; rainy, if S. 


N. E. ; rain or snow, if 


z, 




or S. W. 


S. orS. W. 


u^ 


Between 10 and 12, afternoon. 


Fair. 


Fair and frosty. 



REMARKS. 

1. The nearer the time of the moon's change, first quarter, full, 
and last quarter to midnight, the fairer will the weather be during 
the seven days following. The space for this calculation occupies 
from 10 at night till 2 next morning. 

2. The nearer to midday these phases happen, the more foul 
or wet weather may be expected the next seven days. The space 
for this calculation occupies from 10 in the forenoon to 2 in the 
afternoon. 

3. The phases happening from 4 till 10 in the afternoon may be 
followed by fair weather, but this mostly depends upon the wind. 

4. If a storm arises from the east on or immediately preceding 
the time of the spring equinox, or from any point of the compass 
near a week after, then, in either of these cases, the succeeding 
summer is dry four times out of five ; but if a storm arises from the 
S. W. or W. S. W. on or just before the spring equinox, then the 
summer following is wet five times in six. 



14 METEOROLOGICAL REPORTS. 

THE PRACTICAL USE OF METEOROLOGICAL REPORTS AND 
WEATHER MAPS, AND HOW THEY ARE MADE. 



Readers of daily papers are familiar with what are called " Wea- 
ther-Reports " or " Probabilities," and the maker of these is usually 
styled " Old Prob." The following will show how these reports are 
gathered from every section of the United States. They are of im- 
mense value to farmers, merchants, seamen, and all whose business- 
undertakings are affected by the weather. 

In pursuance of the duty imposed upon the Secretary of War by 
the law providing for the announcement by telegraph and signal of 
the approach and force of storms, and under his direction, the office 
of the Chief Signal Officer of the Army, at the War Department, 
causes meteorological observations and reports to be made, daily 
and nightly, at 55 stations. 

The office Division of Telegrams and Reports for the Benefit of 
Commerce is organized for the preparation, receipt, and use of these 
reports. 

At every station three observations are taken daily, at the same 
moment of actual (not local) time for all stations, by the Observer 
Sergeants of the Signal Service. The reports are immediately tele- 
graphed to the office of the Chief Signal Officer at Washington. 

By a carefully arranged system of telegraphic operation copies of 
the full reports of all stations thus transmitted to Washington, or of 
portions of them, are sent at the same time to many of the Signal 
Service stations in principal cities and towns. 

At each station so receiving a tabular report one or more Bul- 
letins are published. The observations are made synchronously at 
the different stations, at the exact hours, 7.35 A. M., 4.35 p. m., and 
11.35 p. M., Washington time. 

The full reports from all stations are telegraphed to, and received 
at, Washington, translated from cipher and pubhshed in the form 
of Bulletins of Reports by the hours of 9 A. M., 6 p. M., and i a. m., 
respectively (Washington time). The Bulletins of Reports are des- 
ignated as follows : That published at 9 A. M., the " Morning Re- 
port ;" that published at 6 P. M., the " Afternoon Report ;" and that 
published at i a. m., the " Midnight Report." The Bulletins, wher- 
ever published, at Washington or elsewhere, exhibit the following 
particulars — viz. : Height of Barometer ; Change since last report ; 
Thermometer ; Change in last 24 hours ; Relative Humidity, in per 
cent. ; Direction of Wind ; Velocity of Wind, in miles per hour ; 
Pressure of Wind, in pounds per square foot ; Force of Wind ; 



Olu^-h^-^ 



"OLD PROBABILITIES. 



WEATHER-BULLETINS. 1 5 

Amount of Cloud ; Rainfall since last report, in inches and hun- 
dredths ; and State of Weather. 

The morning and afternoon reports (Bulletins) are posted at each 
of the local Signal Service offices, and at a number of other public 
places in the cities and towns to which they are transmitted. 

They are always open for examination. At the more prominent 
stations, and those in principal cities, large Weather-Maps are also 
posted every morning, exhibiting, by means of changeable symbols, 
the reports of the morning observations at the different stations. 
The midnight report (Bulletin) is gratuitously furnished to every 
morning newspaper published in the city at which a station of ob- 
servation may be which will insert it in its columns. The morning 
report is also delivered to afternoon papers in time for publication. 

The Observers at each station are instructed to afford every facility 
to the press and to the public for the earliest receipt and most extended 
use of the reports and information at their respective offices. 

In addition to the Bulletins, a statement of Synopses and Prob- 
abilities is prepared at the office of the Chief Signal Officer, and 
thence issued thrice daily. It is immediately furnished to the Asso- 
ciated Press, by which it is telegraphed to all its agencies through- 
out the country. 

The Synopses and Probabilities, with which the public is familiar 
through the columns of the different newspapers, are issued from the 
office of the Chief Signal Officer at i a. m., id a. m., and 7 p. m., daily. 

In the study of local Probabilities the student should make sure 
that he has before him (as in the columns of the local newspapers) 
the latest Synopses and Probabilities issued at Washington. To be 
sure of such facts, he must notice the hours at which they are dated 
from the Office in Washington. T/i^ Midnight Reports, dated at 
I A. M. of each day, ought to be found i?i the morning newspapers 
of that day. The Morning Report, dated at 10 a. m. of each day, 
is furttished in time for the afternoon and evening papers. 

In addition to the Weather Bulletins and the " Synopses and 
Probabilities," a graphic weather chart or map is issued thrice daily 
from the office of the Chief Signal Officer of the Army, at the War 
Department. To those who know how to use them, all of these 
republications offer valuable help in estimating the probable cha- 
racter of the weather at any station, or over any district, during the 
following day, and often for a still longer period. The bulletins 
and graphic charts, properly filled, convey the same information, 
with this difference : while the former merely tabulates the reports 
alphabetically, the latter reveals to a single glance of the eye a 
synoptic view at once of the meteoric conditions at the different 



1 6 PRESS WEATHER-REPORTS. 



stations, and of the deductions thence to be made as to the con- 
ditions of the atmosphere then extending over the continent. 

The graphic charts are of additional value, from the fact that it is 
often possible to trace upon them, in lines, the progress of storms or 
the change of meteoric condition (as the movement of an area of high 
or low barometer) from report to report, and thus, by considering 
the past, and by applying laws and generalizations reasonably well 
established, to estimate more easily the " Probability " of the future. 

ABBREVIATIONS USED IN THE PRESS REPORTS. 

It may be well to state here that, in the Weather Synopses and 
Probabilities emanating from the Signal Office, different parts of 
the country are thus designated: 

Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, 
and Rhode Island are alluded to as the New England States or the 
North-east, or simply as the Eastern States. 

New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, District of Co- 
lumbia, and Virginia, as the Middle States, or sometimes as the 
Middle Atlantic States. \ 

North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Northern and East- 
ern Florida, as the South Atlantic States. 

Western Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas, as 
the Gulf States. 

Sometimes the Gulf States, the South Atlantic, Virginia, Tennessee, 
Kentucky, and Arkansas, are grouped together as the Southern States. 

The Lower Lakes, when used, means Lake Erie and Ontario. 

The Upper Lakes are Lake Superior, Huron, and Michigan. 

The North-west, popularly, means the country lying between the 
Mississippi and Missouri Rivers. 

The South-west means Texas, Indian Territory, and New Mexico. 

Pacific Coast or Pacific States includes California, Oregon, and 
Washington Territory. 

The Ohio Valley includes the belt of country about two hundred 
miles broad from Pittsburg to Cairo. 

The Mississippi Valley includes a belt of about the same width 
from Vicksburg to Davenport. 

The extensions " from Missouri to Ohio," etc., etc. refer to areas 
reaching to and including the central portions of the States named. 
Thus, a report " Westerly winds extending from Iowa to Pennsyl- 
vania " would signify that those winds would be felt in the interior 
of those States as well as over the territory lying between them of 
the respective States. 

In " the Coasts, etc.'* is included the land between the coasts 




ISiiiS^ 



LAW OF WINDS. 1 7 



and the parallel range of coast hills or mountains. In Texas, Lou- 
isiana, and Northern Florida a belt of land extending a hundred 
miles inward would be included. 

Winds are said to blow from N. E. when they are generally in- 
cluded within the quadrant from N. to E., etc., and similarly for 
other directions. 

THE ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE. 

It is generally well understood that the height of the mercury in the 
barometer tube is a simple and direct measure of the intensity with 
which the atmosphere is at that moment pressing down upon the 
basin of the barometer, and upon the neighboring region of the 
earth ; and not only is the pressure downward, but equally so is it 
exerted upward and horizontally in all directions. 

The average height of the barometer at the level of the sea, on 
the Atlantic coast of the United States, does not vary much from 
30.00 ; on the Western plains it rises to 30.2 in the winter. It di- 
minishes as we approach the Arctic regions. 

THE WINDS AND THEIR LAW. 

Whether considered as the indices or as the causes of coming 
changes of weather, no phenomenon is more important than that of 
the winds. Upon the direction and force of the winds some meteor- 
ologists lay very great stress in every attempt at storm-forecasting. 

The resulting movement of the air, modified by the forces of in- 
ertia and friction, and by the rotation of the earth and local obstruc- 
tions, is converted into the local winds whose directions are indi- 
cated by the arrows upon the maps, and whose velocities are given 
in miles per hour. These winds may be called local winds, as dis- 
tinguished from the general winds in any section, and from the 
great currents of air to be hereafter spoken of ; the general winds 
appear to be primarily dependent upon the existence and position 
of the areas of low and high pressure ; the great currents, spread- 
ing, as they do, over whole continents and encircling the earth, are 
largely influenced by, if not entirely dependent upon, the earth's 
axial rotation. 

If the earth were not in rotation on its axis, the winds would uni- 
formly blow in straight lines outward from the centre of every area 
of high barometer toward the surrounding localities of lower barom- 
eter. Observation, however, has long since clearly shown that in 
this hemisphere, within any area of high pressure, the winds will be 
found to be not only blowing away from the centre (outward), but 
also to be deflected toward the right hand as they move forward. 
2 



i8 



PREVAILING WINDS. 



Observation has also shown, with equal clearness, that in this hemi- 
sphere, within any area of low pressure, the winds will blow toward the 
centre (inward), and will also be deflected toward the right hand as 
they move forward. This deflection to the right has been demon- 
strated by Mr. Wm. Ferrel of Cambridge, Mass., to be a mathemat- 
ical necessity arising from the influence of the earth's diurnal rota- 
tion, which causes everything moving on its surface to deflect slightly 
to the right in the northern hemisphere, and to the left in the south- 
ern hemisphere. This force, by which, to give a popular illustration, 
a railroad train is made to bear more heavily on the right-hand rail 
of the track along which it advances, is the key to the explanation 
of many phenomena in connection with atmospheric and ocean 
currents. By considering the influence of this deflection it becomes 
possible to construct the following table, which shows which winds 
will generally prevail on each side of areas of high and low pressure : 



The observer being — 


THE PREVAILING WINDS WILL BE — 


Low pressure. 


High pressure. 


On tVie N side 


N. and E 


S. and W. 


On the N. W. side 


N. W. and N. E 

W. and N 


S. E. and S. W. 


On fVip W side 


E. and S. 


On the S. W. side 

On tVip S side 


S. W. and N. W 

S. and W 


N. E. and S. E. 

N. and E. 


On the S. E. side 

On thp T^', <sidp 


S. E. and S. W 

E. and S 


N. W. and N. E. 
W. and N. 


On the N E side 


N. E. and S. E 


S. W. and N. W. 







Vertical as well as horizontal systems of winds, depending upon 
the disturbances of equilibrium continually taking place in the 
region of the clouds, always exist in connection with the ordinary 
horizontal gales ; these are, in fact, a most prominent feature of 
tornadoes and water-spouts. 

The force of a local wind at any point, and at any moment, cer- 
tainly depends primarily upon the relative barometric pressure at 
points in the vicinity, and upon the rapidity with which the pressure 
has been or at that moment is changing ; but the force and direction 
of the wind at any station are also very materially influenced by the 
character of the ground in the immediate and distant neighborhood. 
The wind which on the ocean would blow with a certain velocity, 
will have but one-half or one-third of that velocity when blowing 
pver hilly country. This is due to the lesser friction on the ocean. 



ACTION OF WINDS. I9 



and this frictional resistance in two different ways disturbs the di- 
rection of wind : 

1. If, for example, there is a north wind blowing very generally 
over a lake of elliptical shape, such as Lake Michigan, and over 
the neighboring country, then on the central line of the lake a strong 
north wind will be experienced, and a feebler one at the points on 
land far removed from the shore ; but at points on the north-west 
and south-east shores of the lake a north-west wind will be expe- 
rienced, while a north-east wind will be observed on the north-east 
and south-west shores. Similarly, if a south wind blows steadily 
over the Southern States and coast, it will, to observers on the coast, 
appear as a south-west wind, and a north wind will be changed into 
a north-east wind ; and this, too, independently of the additional in- 
fluence exerted by the earth's rotation, which should in this present 
example increase the extent of those changes, in accordance with 
the law above given, as first deduced in all its generality by Ferrel. 

2. The friction of the earth's surface has a greater influence upon 
strong than upon feeble winds, and thus does more to retard the 
tangential than the centripetal motion of the air in the neighborhood 
of an area of low pressure. Consequently, in severe storms on land 
the wind is found to be directed more nearly toward the central 
area of the disturbance than in oceanic storms. Thus in tornadoes 
the inward and upward motions predominate over the tangential. 

Precisely as the velocity over water is greater than over land, so 
is the velocity far above the earth's surface greater than lower 
down. Balloon voyages show occasional velocities of one hundred 
miles per hour. The severest gales on the earth's surface rarely 
exceed eighty-five miles, though doubtless this has been exceeded 
in certain tornadoes and momentary gusts, etc. The currents only 
a few hundred feet above the earth have .frequently twice the ve- 
locity of those observed on the surface, as shown by observations 
of the velocity of passing cloud-shadows. 

The destructive power of a wind, or its power to overthrow or 
move any body, is the difference in the pressure on opposite sides 
of the body. In steady winds this difference depends not only upon 
the velocity of the wind, but equally on the shape of the resisting 
body. Those bodies offer least resistance in which (as in fishes, 
the hulls of ships, bridge-piers, etc.) the hinder portion receives the 
backward pressure of the fluid that presses up against it, thus per- 
mitting as httle approach to a vacuum as possible. In the case of 
sudden gusts the resisting body receives the whole force of the im- 
pulse precisely as a blow. The atmosphere, though so light, is not 
devoid of mass and inertia. Air in motion ^t the rate of one hun-^ 



20 TEMPERATURE OF THE AIR. 

dred miles per hour strikes obstacles with a force equal to that which 
the same volume of water would exert if moving at the rate of three 
and one half miles hourly. 

THE TEMPERATURE. 

The thermometric changes over all parts of the earth's surface 
are mainly dei>endent upon the apparent annual and daily motions 
of the sun and the grand atmospheric currents. 

As fluids and gases are both bad conductors of heat, the distribu- 
tion of heat in the atmosphere is effected most largely by the winds 
or by convection, just as in the ocean it is effected by means of the 
grand aqueous currents. 

Aqueous vapor visibly suspended in the air, as haze or cloud, 
serves as an effectual and double shield against the radiation of heat 
from the earth, and also against the sun's rays themselves. Even 
the invisible particles of vapor floating in the atmosphere, however 
rare, present an obstruction to the free passage of heat of low inten- 
sity, or obscure heat much in the same way as haze and smoke ob- 
struct the light, or as stones in the bed of a water-course retard the 
flow of that fluid. On the most Alpine situations, where, on ac- 
count of their loftiness, much less aqueous vapor is interposed 
between them and the cold stellar regions, radiation is least im- 
peded, and, consequently, when exposed to the direct rays of a 
serene midday sun the heat is intolerable, while at night the unim- 
peded radiation produces a corresponding extreme of cold. The 
temperature observed is the difference between the heat given out 
and that received in a definite interval of time. 

The temperature of the lower air depends primarily, indeed, upon 
the amount of heat poured down upon the earth by the sun, and the 
amount absorbed by the air, as the earth radiates its heat back into 
space ; but, in addition to this, the heat held latent in the vapor 
diffused through the air is at times liberated by the condensation 
of the vapor into fog, rain, and snow, and then it becomes sensible 
to the thermometer. During the day a moist atmosphere will be- 
come warmer than one that is dry, and during the night the radi- 
ation of heat through a moist atmosphere will be less than that 
through a dry one. During cloudy or hazy weather the radiation 
is almost wholly cut off, so that a very uniform temperature prevails 
between the earth and the bottom of the lowest layer of clouds. 
On the other hand, sufficient heat is absorbed (z. <?., becomes latent) 
in the process of evaporation to materially reduce the temperature 
of the air ; thus it is that " drying winds " are also " cooling." An 
increase of barometric pressure, by increasing the capacity of the 

I 



MOISTURE OF THE AIR. 21 

air for moisture, serves to stimulate evaporation and temporarily 
reduce the temperature. A diminution of pressure and consequent 
expansion of confined air produces a lower temperature and dimin- 
ished capacity for moisture, until the condensing vapor gives out its 
latent heat. 

Examination of the weather-charts will show that the temperature 
varies much less over cloudy than over clear districts ; that it varies 
less in low than in elevated regions ; that it is warmer on one side 
of an area of low or high pressure than the other, and generally 
warmer in advance of any storm-centre and colder in the rear. 

THE MOISTURE (RELATIVE HUMIDITY). 

In all localities on the globe, and at all times, moisture, in greater 
or smaller quantities, exists in the atmosphere, which is, conse- 
quently, never absolutely dry. Intervals or interstices occur be- 
tween the particles of the dry air, which are partially filled with this 
ever-present aqueous vapor. The more numerous such intervals 
are, the greater is the' capacity of the air for moisture ; and when 
these intervals are so full of vapor that the air is incapable of con- 
taining or holding any more, it is said to be saturated. 

An increase of heat increases the capacity of the air for moisture ; 
while, on the contrary, a fall of temperature is the occasion of a cor- 
responding diminution of the capacity for vaporous matter. 

The important element of moisture is given in the Signal Service 
Bulletins, not in the absolute quantity in which it is found at any 
given place, but as a percentage of full saturation, or what, in the 
language of meteorologists, is expressed by the term Relative Hu- 
midity. This must not be confounded with absolute humidity, 
which is a very different thing. For, supposing the temperature 
of the air at a given place to be 40° and fully saturated with aque- 
ous vapor, and then to be suddenly raised to 50° without any addi- 
tion being made to its store of vapor, its absolute humidity would 
in each case be exactly the same, but in the former case the weather 
would, in popular language, be very damp, and in the latter case 
very dry. In the former case the relative humidity (or humidity, 
as it is often simply called) would be very high — /. e., 100 per cent.; 
in the latter very low — i. e., 50 per cent. 

Watery vapor dissolves in air very much as salt dissolves in 
water, and as the salt is deposited in crystals whenever the water 
becomes fully saturated, so, whenever the air becomes fully satu- 
rated with vapor, the latter is deposited on the earth in the form of 
mist, dew, and rain if the temperature be high, or as frost, hail, or 
snow-crystals if the temperature be low. 



22 INDICATIONS OF CLOUDS. 

One cubic foot of air, having a temperature of 50°, and under a 
uniform barometric pressure of 30.00 inches, and fully saturated 
will hold 4.28 grains of water according to Glashier's tables. If 
under these conditions, the temperature or the pressure of the air is 
lowered, there will result a deposition of a portion of the water, and 
that either in the form of fog, dew, rain, frost, or snow and hail. 
On the other hand, if there is an increase in the temperature or the 
pressure, the air becomes capable of holding a larger quantity of 
vapor, and ceases to be fully saturated. Relative humidity ex- 
presses the proportion of vapor actually contained in the air com- 
pared with what the air could contain. 

Certain winds will be found to be moister than others. The west 
and north-west are generally the driest in the Mississippi Valley. 
Dry air almost always predominates on the leeward side of moun- 
tain-chains, and is the characteristic of the plains and plateaus west 
of the Mississippi Valley. Dryness will be found attending clear- 
ing-up weather. Dampness or a large increase of relative humidity 
accompanies threatening weather as an almost invariable premoni- 
tion. Ascending currents of air also increase in dampness ; de- 
scending currents grow drier. 

The smoky haze which spreads to a great distance when exten- 
sive forest fires prevail is composed of minute atoms of charcoal, 
which possess the singular property of attracting moisture to them- 
selves, and thus perpetuating dry weather. 

THE CLOUDS AND THEIR INDICATIONS. 

By entering graphically on the map the general features of the 
weather and sky, we complete the detailed representation of the 
atmospheric condition. The clouds by their kinds and changes are 
indices to the relative temperature, moisture, and pressure existing 
at high altitudes ; by their motions they indicate the nature of the 
prevailing current of air, showing whether it is from the tropics, and 
hence hkely to be warm, or from the polar regions, and cool. 

The ascent of expanding warm air gives rise to the cumulus 
clouds, whose flat bases are all on a pretty uniform level. These 
subside and dissolve when they cease to be fed by rising currents of 
moist air : the thickness of the cumuli from base to peak is less in 
cold dry weather than on warm moist days. The cirrus clouds are 
probably formed independently by the radiation of heat outward 
into the highest regions of the atmosphere, in which case they are 
composed of snow-flakes or of spiculae of ice ; and they are also 
formed of the remnants of the storm-clouds, in which case they are 
generally composed of warmer vapor. The strong winds that at- 



STORMS AND CYCLONES. 23 

tend areas of low barometer give rise, through the influence of fric- 
tion, etc., as before stated, to ascending strata of moist air, in which, 
by expansion or coohng, as the case may be, are produced the 
scud- and rain-cloud, of which there is a fine example in the easterly 
rains of the Atlantic coast. This scud-cloud, which is at first like a 
cumulus of irregular shape, subsequently spreads into broad sheets 
of stratus and 7iimbus. 

Two or more layers of clouds almost invariably coexist wherever 
extended rain-storms prevail, the upper layer stretching far in ad- 
vance of the lower, but descending and merging into the lower over 
the area on which rain is falling most abundantly. In the rear of 
this area cumulus clouds are abundant. A general survey of the 
map will show that cumuli or the cirri first mentioned in the pre- 
ceding sentence are not inconsistent with fair and clear weather, as 
these terms are popularly used. An increased accumulation of 
large cumulus clouds may become cloudy weather, but does not 
generally presage the extended storms of winter. The cirrus of the 
second class, sometimes called cirro-stratus, almost always precedes 
at some distance any extensive rain-storm, whether of winter or 
summer. The stratus will generally be found to be reported in 
connection with threatening weather at the different stations. 

The classification of clouds into cumulus, cirrus, etc. is indicated 
on the plate facing page 16. 

STORMS AND CYCLONES. 

Whether of snow, rain, or wind, whether of greater or less vio- 
lence, storms and cyclones have much similarity in their general 
features and behavior. Strong contrasts of temperature and of 
pressure, in contiguous currents of warm and cold air, mark the 
progress and also the origin of a storm. The Gulf Stream and the 
adjacent areas of colder water, the land bordering on oceans or 
lakes, whether frozen or open, mountains and plains and river 
valleys, are examples of regions over which moist and dry or warm 
and cold strata come in contact. But even more important, though 
imperfectly understood, are the sudden changes that take place 
overhead, which are apparently due to the elevation of moisture 
into the higher regions of the atmosphere. The storms that visit 
the United States may be described as of four types, as follows : 

1st. The West India cyclones, originating in the southern regions 
of the zone of easterly trade winds, and generally east of the Wind- 
ward Islands, possibly even in the Meteorological Torrid Zone, or 
equatorial belt of calms and rains. A very low pressure and large 
humidity mark their central region. Toward this the winds blow 



24 RAIN- Ol^ SNOW-STORMS. 

from all points, and, deflecting to the right, pursue their spiral 
course inward and upward ; at least, this is the only satisfactory 
explanation that has yet been offered for the various phenomena. 
The moisture brought by this wind condenses as the pressure is 
reduced, and clouds are formed, with heavy rain. 

Around the centre of a cyclone an upward current is supposed to 
exist, and high above are formed the cirrus clouds, which stream 
far away in advance on the upper currents of air. These storms 
are carried to the north and west until they pass into the Meteor- 
ological Temperate Zone, where the prevailing south and west 
winds control their motions. This generally happens on or oppo- 
site the South Atlantic coast, and as the storms then pursue a course 
nearly parallel with the Gulf Stream, with its attendant band of 
warm, moist air, they produce heavy easterly gales along our At- 
lantic coast, and finally are lost in the Northern Atlantic, but occa- 
sionally, doubtless, reach Iceland and the coast of Great Britain. 

2d, The autumn, winter, and spring rains, which generally first 
announce themselves on the south-west or western plains of this 
country, may be regarded as disturbances originating on the north- 
ern confines of the Tropical Zone and on the Pacific slope (as dis- 
tinct from those of the preceding class that originate in the West 
Indies). 

From the area of high pressure on the Pacific coast of Central 
and North America a volume of moist air is forced up over the 
Sierra Nevadas and Rocky Mountains ; its moisture is deposited, 
and a wave of rarefied but probably dry air is started on its north- 
east or eastern course. No sooner does this arrive, as a wave of 
low barometer, over the comparatively moist air of the Mississippi 
Valley, than, by relieving the surface stratum of its pressure, there 
at once begins the condensation of its moisture, which process, if 
the air is not too dry, goes on rapidly increasing. 

Local currents arising in this surface stratum of air feed the cen- 
tral area of condensation, which soon becomes hazy, and then 
cloudy, until rain begins. While the general progress of the storm- 
centre will be north-eastward, yet it is evident that wherever the 
moistest air exists, there the condensation will take place the most 
rapidly, there the barometer will also fall the most rapidly, and 
thither the storm will be strongest drawn. Such storms naturally, 
Therefore, move very rapidly up toward the lakes, and hang tena- 
ciously over them, and move slowly away from them. In winter 
their course is eastward, in the early autumn north-eastward. 

The temperature of the upper regions must decide whether rain 
or snow will attend these storms. Their advance is almost inva- 



STORM DISTURBANCES. 2^ 



riably heralded by an increase of temperature, due apparently to 
latent heat evolved by the condensation going on in the circumja- 
cent and superior air and radiated downward to the earth, and to 
the increased facility witli which the saturated air on the surface 
absorbs the heat radiated by the earth. 

3d. Well-defined, though generally weak disturbances, have been 
observed to pass from the north to the south, or the north-west to 
the south-east, but these are probably rare in the United States, and 
probably occur only in midwinter, when the north-east winds and 
high pressure in British America are exceptionally strong. Con- 
tinuous snow, succeeded by cold, dry weather, characterize these 
storms ; and such a one, on one occasion, after striking the coast of 
Alabama and turning eastward, ascended the Gulf Stream to the 
north-eastward, thus coursing around the area of high pressure, that 
had then pushed southward over the lake region. 

4th. The stoi-ms which are generally confined within the United 
States are the northers, tornadoes, and thunder-storms. The latter 
are generally spread over a very narrow space, so that they may at 
times pass between the stations from which our reports are received. 
These storms evidently originate in the lower cloud-stratum in local 
but intense differences of temperature, moisture, and pressure, and 
are believed in general to prevail only on the western side or in 
the rear of areas of high pressure. The gyratory movements of 
these small storms depend upon local currents and resistances, ra- 
ther than on the earth's rotation ; they may, therefore, gyrate either 
toward the right or the left In these storms the cumulus clouds are 
particularly remarknble for their height, and the cirrus clouds for 
their small extent. The presence of a surface area of dry air is 
oftentimes sufficient to dissipate these storms, or to cause them to 
retire into the cloud regions. Similar storms form over rnountain- 
tops, and are experienced by balloon voyagers when the air is quite 
undisturbed below. Several such smaller storms frequently simul- 
taneously coexist, pursuing parallel paths circulating with the gen- 
eral winds about the continental areas of low barometer, and the 
area of local storms thus corresponds very nearly to what would be 
an area of general rain were the temperature lower over the region. 
The lightning which accompanies these storms is the effect of the 
concentration upon large drops of water of the electricity previously 
distributed throughout the invisible vapor ; it is considered as a 
result, not a cause, of storms. 

5th. It has been noticed Ihat there is a tendency in the spring 
and summer toward an accumulation of barometric pressure over 
the middle and eastern Atlantic States. When this area of high 



26 PREDICTION OF STORMS. 

barometer moves eastward, the easterly winds on its south side, 
driving on to the coast from Maryland to Massachusetts, produce 
clouds, and occasionally severe storms of small extent, which are 
driven north and westward until broken up among the Appalachian 
Mountains. 

In general,* areas of high barometer prepare the way for the 
succeeding low pressure and high winds, and have been not in- 
aptly termed storm-breeders. 

THE PREDICTION OF STORMS. 

The wind is that element which most affects the commercial in- 
terest of the country, and, in forecasting the approach of a storm, a 
student at present naturally gives his principal attention to this ele- 
ment ; the prevalence of fog, rain, or snow, and the temperature of 
the air, may, however, be estimated in a general way. He must 
call to his aid all such knowledge as is offered by the preceding 
brief statement of the prominent meteorological principles, such 
local laws as he may know to hold good for the districts in question, 
and such more general laws as have been deduced by the study of 
eminent meteorologists. 

The prediction of an extended storm for any portion of the coun- 
try is reduced to the deteruiination of the path pursued by the central 
area of low pressure, and the rapidity with which this will extend its 
influence in any given direction. 

The general distribution of the principal masses of cirrus and 
cirro-stratus clouds, combined with the distribution of the areas over 
which the temperature and pressure have risen or fallen with abnor- 
mal rapidity, will safely indicate, at least for the winter months, the 
immediate region into which the storm will pass, and occasionally 
even give a premonition of its breaking up int.o two portions, each 
drawn in different directions. 

The more violent winds generally follow in the rear and on the 
south side of the advancing area of lowest pressure ; those that pre- 
cede the progress of that area may often be more dangerous, how- 
ever, because of the accompanying rain, fog, etc. The latter winds 
are preceded by the cirrus and threatening storm-clouds ; the rain 
that accompanies or follows these generally abates, and thus gives 
warning of the strong clearing-up winds. 

The rapidity of progression of the area of cloud and rain varies 
from fifteen to sixty miles in an hour, the actual velocity varying 
with the influence of moisture, as explained in a previous section. 

The average velocity of the currents, which determine the gen- 
eral direction of the progress of the nucleus of the storm, varies 



redfield's theory. 27 

from twenty to forty miles hourly, and rarely reaches the higher 
limit. 

The inertia of the air conspires with the friction of the winds on 
the land to delay the movements in the continental storms much 
behind the corresponding phenomena in oceanic storms. 



LEADING PRINCIPLES OF REDFIELD'S THEORY OF STORMS, 
AS DEVELOPED BY HIM FROM 1831 TO 1857. 



That all violent gales or hurricanes are great whirlwinds, in 
which the wind blows in circuits around an axis either vertical or 
inclined ; that the wind does not move in horizontal circles, as the 
usual form of his diagrams would seem to indicate, but rather in 
spirals toward the axis, a descending spiral movement externally 
and ascending internally. 

That the direction of revolution is always uniform, being from 
right to left, or against the sun, on the north side of the equator, 
and from left to right, or with the sun, on the south side. 

That the velocity of rotation increases from the margin toward 
the centre of the storm. 

That the whole body of air subjected to this spiral rotation is at 
the same time moving forward in a path at a variable rate, but al- 
ways with a velocity much less than its velocity of rotation ; being 
at the minimum hitherto observed as low as four miles, and at the 
maximum forty-three miles, but more commonly about thirty miles 
per hour, while the motion of rotation may be not less than from 
one hundred to three hundred miles per hour. 

That in storms of a particular region, as the gales of the Atlantic 
or the typhoons of the China seas, great tmiformity exists in regard 
to the path pursued ; those of the Atlantic, for example, usually 
issuing from the equatorial regions eastward of the West India Isl- 
ands, pursuing at first a course toward the north-west as far as the 
latitude of 30 degrees, and then gradually wheeling to the north- 
east, and foll(?wing a path nearly parallel to the American coast, to 
the east of Newfoundland, until they are lost in mid-ocean ; the 
entire path when delineated resembling a parabolic curve, whose 
apex is near the latitude of 30 degrees. 

That their dimensio7ts are sometimes very great, being not less 
than one thousand miles in diameter, while their path over the 
ocean can sometimes be traced for three thousand miles. 



28 ESPY*S WEATHER-LAWS. 

That the barometer at any given place falls with increasing rapid- 
ity as the centre of the whirlwind approaches, but rises at a corre- 
sponding rate after the centre has passed ; and finally, 

That the phenomena are more uniform in large than in small 
storms, and more uniform on the ocean than on the land. 



GENERALIZATIONS, BY PROF. J. P. ESPY. 



1. The rain- and snow-storms, and even the moderate rains and 
snows, travel from the west toward the east in the United States 
during the months of November, December, January, February, and 
March, which are the only months to which these generalizations 
apply. 

2. The storms are accompanied with a depression of the barom- 
eter near the central line of the storm, and a rise of the barometer 
in the front and rear. 

3. This central line of minimum pressure is generally of great 
length from north to south, and moves side-foremost toward the 
east. 

4. This line is sometimes nearly straight, but generally curved, 
and most frequently with its convex side toward the east. 

5. The velocity of this line is such that it travels from the Missis- 
sippi to the Connecticut River in about twenty-four hours, and from 
the Connecticut to St. John, Newfoundland, in nearly the same 
time, or about thirty-six miles an hour. 

6. When the barometer falls suddenly in the western part of New 
England, it rises at the same time in the valley of the Mississippi, 
and also at St. John, Newfoundland. 

7. In great storms the wind for several hundred miles on both 
sides of the line of minimum pressure blows toward that line directly 
or obliquely. 

8. The force of the wind is in proportion to the suddenness and 
greatness of the depression of the barometer. 

9. In all great and sudden depressions of the barometer there is 
much rain or snow ; and in all sudden great rains or snows there is 
a great depression of the barometer near the centre of the storm, 
and rise beyond its borders. 

10. Many storms are of great and unknown length from north to 
south, reaching beyond our observers on the Gulf of Mexico and 
on the northern lakes, while their east and west diameter is com- 
paratively small. The storms therefore move side-foremost. 



ESPY S WEATHER-LAWS. 2$ 

11. Most storms commence in the " far West," beyond our most 
western observers, but some commence in the United States. 

12. When a storm commences in the United States the line of 
minimum pressure does not come from the "far West," but com- 
mences with the storm, and travels with it eastward. 

13. There is generally a lull of wind at the line of minimum 
pressure, and sometimes a calm. 

14. When this line of minimum pressure passes an observer to- 
ward the east, the wind generally soon changes to the west, and the 
barometer begins to rise. 

15. There is generally but little wind near the line of maximum 
pressure, and on each side of that line the winds are irregular, but 
tend outward from that line. 

16. The fluctuations of the barometer are generally greater in tiie 
northern than in the southern parts of the United States. 

17. The fluctuations of the barometer are generally greater in the 
eastern than in the western part of the United States. 

18. In the northern parts of the United States the wind generally 
in great storms sets ir ^om the north of east, and terminates from 
the north of west. 

19. In the southern parts of the United States the wind generally 
sets in from the south of east, and terminates from the south of west. 

20. During the passage of storms the wind generally changes 
from the eastward to the westward by the south, especially in the 
southern parts of the United States. 

21. The northern part of the storm generally travels more rapidly 
toward the east than the southern part. 

22. During the high barometer on the day preceding the storm it 
is generally clear and mild in temperature, especially if very cold 
weather preceded. 

23. The temperature generally falls suddenly on the passage of 
the centre of great storms, so that sometimes, when a storm is in 
the middle of the United States, the lowest temperature of the month 
will be in the west on the same day that the highest temperature is 
in the east. 

Some of the storms, it is true, are contained entirely, for a time, 
within the bou,nds of my observers, and in that case the minimum 
barometer does not exhibit itself in a line of great length extending 
from north to south, but it is confined to a region near the centre 
of the storm, and travels with that centre eastward. 

From these experiments it may safely be inferred, contrary to the 
general belief of scientific men, that va^or permeates the air from a 
high to a low dew-point with extreme slowness, if, indeed, it per- 



30 scott's barometer rules. 

meates it at all ; and in meteorology it will hereafter be known that 
vapor rises into the regio?is where clouds are formed only by being 
carried up by ascending currents of air contai?iing it. 



EXTRACTS FROM "BAROMETER MANUAL," COMPILED BY 

ROBERT H. SCOTT FOR THE METEOROLOGICAL 

OFFICE, LONDON, 1871. 



RULES TO EXPLAIN THE INDICATIONS OF THE INSTRUMENT. 

It should always be remembered that changes in weather gen- 
erally give signs of their coming, for the instruments are affected 
before the wind actually begins to blow or the rain to fall ; thus they 
may be said to enable us to feel the pulse of the atmosphere. It 
must not be forgotten that the length of time which passes between 
the first appearance of a change of weather and its actual setting in 
are not the same. It is much greater when a south-west wind is 
going to succeed a north-east wind than when the opposite change 
is about to take place. We shall see, a little further on, why this is 
the case, and also how the appearance of the sky will aid us in 
forming an opinion as to probal^le weather. 

The general principles on which the following rules are founded 
have been laid down by Professor Dove of Berlin on the basis of a 
long series of observations which were made at several stations 
situated in the North Temperate Zone, between the parallels 49 de- 
grees and 65 degrees, to which regions they specially refer. The 
rules themselves may be shortly stated thus : 

The average height of the mercury in the barometer, at sea-level 
in the British Islands, is about 29.9 inches. If the barometer rises 
steadily above its mean height while the weather gets colder and 
the air becomes drier, north-westerly, northerly, north-easterly 
winds, or less wind, less rain or snow, may generally be expected. 
On the contrary, if the barometer falls while the weather gets warm- 
er and the air becomes damper, wind and rain may be looked for 
from the south-east, south, or south-west. 

The deviations from these general principles which are noticed 
correspond to the various changes of weather. 

If the weather gets warmer while the barometer is high and the 
wind north-easterly, we may look for a shift of wind to the south. 
On the other hand, the weather sometimes becomes colder while 
the wind is south-westerly an4 the barometer low, and then we may 



scott's barometer rules. 31 



look for a sudden squall, or perhaps a storm, from the north-west, 
with a fall of snow if it be winter-time. 

No absolute laws for weather can, however, be laid down; the 
most striking exceptions to the rules are those noticed by Admiral 
Fitzroy. They happen with north-east winds, which sometimes 
bring rain, or sleet, or snow, especially during gales, although the 
barometer may be high and rising. On the other hand, when the 
wind is north-easterly and light and the barometer begins to fall, 
rain may set in before the wind changes to east or east-south-east. 

Besides these rules for the instruments, there is a rule about the 
way in which the wind changes which is very important. It is well 
known to every sailor, and is contained in the following couplet : 

" When the wind shifts against the sun. 
Trust it not, for back it will run." 

The wind usually shifts with the sun — /. e., from left to right* in 
the northern hemisphere. A change in this direction is called 
veering. 

Thus an east wind shifts to west through south-east, south, and 
south-west, and a west wind shifts to east through north-west, north, 
and north-east. If the wind shifts the opposite way — viz., from 
west to south-west, south, and south-east, the change is called back- 
ing, and it seldom occurs unless when the weather is unsettled. 

However, slight changes of wind do not follow this rule exactly ; 
for instance, the wind often shifts from south-west to south, and back 
again. 

In most parts of the world it has been observed that there are two 
prevailing wind-currents, which vary with the circumstances of the 
place, but are, on the whole, nearly opposite each other. 

In these islands these directions are about north-east and south- 
west, and the latter of these winds blows for about ten times as 
many days in the year as the other does. 

What is it that causes these winds to blow and makes them so 
different from each other, as we know them to be ? The simplest 
account of them is that the air is always flowing toward the equator 
from tne poles, and back again. It then forms two great currents : 
one is called the polar current, as it flows from the direction of the 
poie, and i^ felt here as a north-east wind ; the other is called the 
equatorial current, as it flows from the direction of the equator, and 
is felt here as a south-west wind. 

The air of the polar current has been chilled, and is heavy, cold, 
and dry ; while it is blowing the barometer is high and the weather 
usually dry. 

* In tbA southern hemisphere motion with the sun is, of course, from right to left. 



32 scott's barometer rules. 

The air of the equatorial current has been heated, and is light, 
warm, and moist ; while it is blowing the barometer is low and the 
weather usually wet. 

If we keep the idea of these two great wind-currents clearly in 
our heads, we shall easily understand most of the signs of the wea- 
ther which are noticed. 

The air of the equatorial current is lighter than that of the polar, 
and so southerly winds will begin to blow aloft before they are felt 
on the ground, while northerly winds will begin to blow close to the 
ground. Accordingly, south-west winds give much more warning 
of their coming than north-easterly ones. 

The south-west wind will often show itself first by long streaks of 
cirrus clouds at a great height, called " mares' tails," or, when a 
gale is very near, by driving scud. 

Signs of weather, such as those just noticed, are important to any 
one watching for changes, as they will enable him to confirm or 
modify the opinions formed from the behavior of his instruments. 
As to the instruments themselves, we have already seen that when 
the barometer rises, owing to a change of wind, the weather usually 
becomes colder ; while when the barometer falls, owing to a change 
of wind, the weather usually becomes warmer If the barometer be 
high (above 30.5), and remain steady for some days, it is because 
there is, so to speak, a surplus of air at the place. The wind will 
be light, and the weather will probably be dry. A gale can set in 
only when the air flows away, and it will not at first be severe at 
the place. If the barometer be low (below 29.0 inches), and remain 
steady, there is a deficiency of air at the place. The wind will be light 
also, but the weather will probably be cloudy and wet. However, 
there may be fine weather for a short time, what is called a " pet 
day," but there is great danger of a serious storm, because the air 
will try to force its way into the district where the readings are low, 
and increase the pressure there so as to restore the atmospherical 
equilibrium. 

If the barometer rises slowly from a low level the weather may 
beconie drier and the wind lighter, or perhaps die away. There 
may also be local fogs. 

If the barometer falls gradually fi^om a high level, the weather may 
become wetter and more unpleasant, and there will never be a cer- 
tainty of having a fine day, though there need not be much wind. 

In general, whenever the level of the mercury continues steady 
we may expect settled weather, but when it is unsteady we must 
look for a change, and perhaps a serious gale. A sudden rise of 
the barometer is very nearly as bad a sign as a sudden fall, because 



scott's barometer rules. 33 

it shows that atmospherical equilibrium is unsteady. In an ordi- 
nary gale the wind often blows hardest when the barometer is just 
beginning to rise directly after having been very low. 

It must never be forgotten that it is impossible for any one to in- 
terpret the meaning of all the changes in his barometer at first, or 
perhaps for a day or two, inasmuch as he requires to learn what is 
going on at stations in his neighborhood, for without this informa- 
tion he cannot know whether these changes are due to mere local 
causes, or are the first symptoms of the approach of a more serious 
disturbance. A storm may be raging at a comparatively short dis- 
tance from him, but his barometer, takett by himself, will not neces- 
sarily enable him to detect its existence. 

Professor Buys Ballot of Utrecht and others have shown that we 
can tell with considerable certainty what wind may be expected to 
blow at any place if we know the readings of the barometer, taken 
a short time previously, at a number of stations situated within a 
distance of, say, one hundred or two hundred miles from that place. 

The rule is : Stand with your left hand toward the place wher(^ 
the barometrical reading is lowest, and your right hand toward tha 
where it is highest, and you will have your back to the direction ol 
the wind which will blow during the day. 

Thus the wind may be expected to be — 

, f when the pressure ) .t f or lowest ) ,, 
Easterly i • .• , :• ^i \ north i • ., \ south. 
•^ [ IS highest m the j ( ^^ ^"^ j 

Southerly do east do ... . west. 

Westerly do south .... do ... . north. 

Northerly do west .... do ... . east. 

The force of the wind on each day bears some proportion to the 
amount of difference in barometrical readings noticed between any 
two stations situated near the place where the wind was felt. Thus 
we find that it has been shown that a westerly gale hardly ever 
blows in the British Isles unless, at least a few hours before, the 
pressure in the north of Scotland is half an inch less in amount than 
it is on the south coast of England. 

At present it is sufficient for us to say, with reference to the prin- 
ciples above laid down for the behavior of the instrument, that 
whenever a storm is blowing the level of the barometer will be very 
different at stations near each other, so that as the storm travels 
across the country the barometer at any station will show signs of 
its coming and going by the mercury sinking or rising in the tube. 
This shows us why it is when the barometer is steady there is no 
great likelihood of a sudden change of weather, while when it is 

3 



34 CAUTIONARY SIGNALS. 

changing quickly there is great danger of the wind freshening to a 
gale. 

The direction of advance takes place most usually from some 
point between south-west and north-west, but not infrequently lies 
in a different direction, and it is stated that occasionally a motion 
even from the eastward has been recognized. The velocity of motion 
varies from five or six miles an hour to as much as sixty or seventy. 

Owing to the extreme sensitiveness of the thermometer to changes 
of weather, it has been frequently proposed to consider its indica- 
tions as fully equal in importance to those of the barometer ; but 
great caution is necessary in acting on this idea. The accuracy of 
thermometrical observations depends upon a great many conditions, 
such as aspect, exposure to the air, elevation above sea-level and 
above the surface of the ground, all of which are immaterial or can 
be allowed for in dealing with the barometer. 



THE CAUTIONARY SIGNAL. 



The Cautionary Signal of the Signal Service, U. S. Army — a 
red flag with black square in the centre by day and a red light by 
night — displayed at the office of the observer and other prominent 
places throughout any city, signifies — 

1. That from the inforjnation had at the Central Office in Wash- 
ington, a probability of stormy or dangerous weather has been de- 
duced for the fort or place at which the cautionary signal is dis- 
played, or in that vicinity. 

2. That the danger appears to be so great as to demand precau- 
tion on the part of navigators and others interested — such as an 
examination of vessels or other structures to be endangered by a 
storm., the inspection of crews, riggings, etc., and general prepara- 
tion for rough weather. 

J. // calls for frequent examination of local barometers, and other 
instruments^ by ship-captains or others interested, and the study of 
local signs of the weather, as clouds, etc., etc. By this means those 
who are expert may often be confirmed as to the need of the precau- 
tion to which the Cautionary Signal calls attention, or may deter- 
mine that the danger is overestimated or past. 

This red flag or red light (the Cautionary Signal) is only to be 
displayed when the information in the possession of the office leads 
to the belief that dangerous winds are approaching. 

The term dangerous winds has ordinarily a somewhat different 



READING OF INSTRUMENTS. 3$ 

meaning according to the location of the station. Thus the severe 
gales of the Atlantic (where the hourly velocity of the wind ranges 
from 40 to 70 miles) are comparatively very rare on the lakes, 
where the limited sea-room causes winds that on the neighboring 
shores are registered only as brisk (z. <?., 20 to 25 miles) to become 
dangerous. Again, the direction in which the wind is blowing is a 
most important consideration, and as general experience shows that 
most danger is apprehended from wind blowing on to a lee shore, 
the Cautionary Signal may very properly be expected to be hoisted 
only in case such winds are apprehended for the port in question. 

The Cautionary Signal will therefore be hoisted whenever the 
winds are expected to be as strong as twenty-five miles an hour, 
and to continue so for several hours within a radius of one hundred 
miles of the station. It will thus be left to the public individually 
to decide whether that wind will be dangerous to any special occu- 
pation. It is hoped that eventually it will be practicable to add a 
second signal, giving warning of severe gales. Each signal holds 
good for the space of about ei^ht hours from the time at which it is 
hoisted. 



PLACING AND READING OF THE INSTRUMENTS. 



Note. — The following instructions apply to Green's, Fortin's, and other barometers 
constructed on the Fortin principle, and Robinson's anemometer as constructed by 
Green of New York. 

BAROMETER. 

The barometer must be kept in a room of as uniform tempera- 
ture as practicable ; and to protect the instrument from such exter- 
nal influences as would produce irregularities it should be kept in a 
box. The box should be firmly fastened against the wall in a ver- 
tical position, in such a way that when open the barometer may 
hang in front of a window. 

An opening, large enough to admit the tube of the instrument, 
should be cut in the upper end of the box, and directly above this 
a strong hook of such length as to extend two or three inches be- 
yond the box, be driven into the wall. 

The instrument is to be suspended on the hook, and when not in 
use to be kept in the closed box. 

When an observation is to be made the barometer must be slip- 
ped out on the hook into the full light of the window. 

It is always well to follow a system in every mechanical opera- 
tion, and particularly in taking observations, as it ensures an accu- 



36 READING OF INSTRUMENTS. 

racy that cannot otherwise be obtained. The following rules are 
therefore presented : 

I St. Tap the instrument a little above the cistern, to destroy the 
adhesion of the metal to the glass. 

2d. Read the attached thermometer, which is very sensitive. 

3d. By means of the adjusting-screw bring the surface of the mer- 
cury in the cistern in contact with the ivory point which denotes its 
constant level. If correctly done, neither a line of light can be seen 
between the point and the surface of the mercury, nor will there ap- 
pear on the surface of the mercury a dimple caused by capillary 
action. 

4th. Again tap the instrument just above the cistern. 

5th. Take hold of the instrument above the thermometer with 
the left hand, and by means of the vernier screw bring the back 
and front lines of the vernier into the same horizontal plane with 
the top of the mercury in the tube, just touching it and no more. 
Remove the hand, and as soon as the barometer is vertical note 
whether any line of light appears between the summit and the edge 
of the ring. When correctly adjusted a small portion is obscured, 
while the light is seen on both sides. 

6th. Read the barometer at leisure, in the following manner : 

On the barometer tube is a fixed scale, divided into inches and 
tenths of inches. There is also a vernier, or sliding-scale, which 
reads to hundredths of an inch. 

First read the point marked on the fixed scale by the bottom of 
the vernier, which will give the inches and tenths of inches ; set 
this down and then refer to the vernier for the hundredths. 

The vernier is divided into ten equal parts, numbered upward 
from I to 10. Commencing at the bottom, examine the lines until 
one is found exactly coinciding with any line on the fixed scale : the 
number of such lines on the vernier gives you the hundredths — i. e., 
if the eighth line on the vernier coincides exactly with any line of 
the fixed scale, the reading is .08 inches. In case no hne of the 
vernier exactly coincides with a line on the fixed scale, two lines 
of the vernier must somewhere be embraced in the space indicated 
by two successive lines on the fixed scale, and observing where this 
occurs, read for hundredths the vernier line which most nearly co- 
incides with one of them. In case the coinciding line is 10, which 
only happens when the zero also coincides, there are no hundredths, 
and zero must be placed for the hundredths. 

Whenever practicable compare the barometer with any other 
good one that may be accessible, by making simultaneous readings 
of both, and preserve the record of the comparison. 



READING THE THERMOMETER. 3/ 



THE THERMOMETER. 

Place the thermometer in the open air, so situated that it will be 
always in the shade, and yet have a free circulation of air around it. 

The thermometer should be at least from nine to twelve inches 
from any neighboring object, and should be protected against its 
own radiation to the sky and earth, and from the heat reflected by 
neighboring objects. 

These conditions can be fulfilled by the construction of an instru- 
ment-shelter, which may be constructed outside of a window of a 
room not heated, and which, corresponding in size to the window, 
should project about two feet from the panes. Lattice blinds should 
form the exterior of the shelter ; these should always be closed as a 
shelter to the instruments against all radiation, and should be opened 
only a little in order to admit light when reading the thermometer. 

A foot from the panes, and at the height of the observer's eye, 
two parallel transverse wooden bars about an inch wide should be 
fastened. The thermometer should be fastened exactly perpendic- 
ularly to the bars, so that its top is secured by a screw to the upper 
bar, while its bulb projects a few inches below the lower bar, to 
which the instrument is secured by a clasp or screw. 

The bulb should be so placed that it will not rest against a wood- 
en or metal back, but be free from both scale and back. 

READING. 

In reading it is very important that the observer's eye should be 
exactly at the same height as the top of the column of mercury, 
otherwise an erroneous reading will be made. 

The reading may be best made through the panes, to avoid the 
influence of the temperature of the chamber on the thermometer, 
and a second one should be made shortly after to verify the first. 
When the bulb becomes moistened by rain or fog, or is covered by 
ice or snow, it should be carefully wiped, and the reading should not 
be made until the instrument has acquired the temperature of air. 

VERIFICATION. 

The zero point should be verified unless the thermometer is known 
to be correct. To do this, immerse the bulb in a vessel filled with 
snow or pounded ice, and press slightly a layer of several inches 
around it, so that the stem, which should be exactly perpendicular, 
is covered with snow as high as the freezing-point on the scale. 
Do this in a room the temperature of which is above the freezing- 
point, as that point indicates the temperature of melting snow. 



38 THERMOMETER AND HYGROMETER. 



After about half an hour read it, taking care to have the eye ex- 
actly perpendicular to the column of the mercury, and stirring the 
thermometer about freely in the mixture. 

In case the summit of the mercury and the freezing-point of the 
scale do not agree, note the difference. Some instruments are so 
constructed as to admit of loosening the screws and sliding the glass 
tube containing the mercury up or down a distance equivalent to the 
error, but it is not advisable to make frequent mechanical changes 
of this kind. The correction should be applied to each reading. 

SELF-REGISTERING THERMOMETERS. 

The two thermometers — maximum and minimum — are to be 
placed beside the common thermometer, with their bulbs opposite 
and free, attached horizontally to two perpendicular wooden bars 
uniting the parallel bars running across the shelter. 

In reading them the same care must be as used with the common 
thermometer, the eye being in a perpendicular line with the ex- 
tremity of the index. After verifying the first reading by a second, 
bring the index of each to the summit of its column by the use of a 
magnet, in order to set them for the next day's record. 

VERIFICATION. 

Compare the two thermometers frequently with the common 
thermometer, and verify the zero several times each year in the 
same manner as stated for the common thermometer, and enter 
the error in the register to be applied at each reading. 

HYGROMETER. 

These thermometers — one with a dry and one with a wet bulb — 
must be placed on the same parallel bars as the common thermome- 
ter, and several inches apart. The bulbs should be free and at a 
distance from the bars. 

The cloth covering the bulb should be muslin and of fine texture, 
and must be changed every month, and the bulb cleaned. It can 
be washed without removing by means of a syringe. It may be 
kept continually wet, or be moistened a short time before taking 
the observation ; and experience has shown that the average result 
is the same in both cases. Filtered rain-water must be used. 

VERIFICATION. 

The two thermometers must be frequently compared, and if they 
are not adjusted so as to correct any difference which may fxist, 



ANEMOMETER AND RAIN-GAUGE. 39 

the error must be registered and taken into account after making 
an observation* 

THE ANEMOMETER. 

The anemometer should be carefully fixed in a vertical position, 
Upon a post of sufficient height to bring the dial on a level with the 
eye of the observer, and in an exposed condition, so as to receive 
the full force of the wind. The post should be planted firmly enough 
to prevent the instrument from vibrating. 

To obtain the velocity of the wind at any time, two observations, 
at an interval of exactly five minutes, should be made, and the dif- 
ference between the readings, which will be obtained in miles and 
tenths of miles, multiplied by 12, gives the velocity per hour. Ex- 
ample : Suppose the outer index to be at 3 the first reading, and at 
3.6 the second, the difference is 0.6, which, multiplied by 12, gives 
7.2 miles as the velocity per hour. Great care should be exercised 
to make these observations exactly five minutes apart. 

Reading : Each line on the inner dial indicates 10 miles, and the 
dial reads by tens from ten to one thousand. Each line on the 
outer dial indicates a tenth of a mile, and the dial reads, by tenths 
and by miles, from one-tenth of a mile to ten miles. The zero-line 
of the outer dial is the point at which the inner dial must be read. 
Read on the inner dial the line exactly coinciding with the zero-line 
of the outer dial, or if no line exactly coincides, then read the line 
next less than it. 

No line of the inner dial can exactly coincide with the zero of the 
outer dial unless that zero exactly coincides with the steel index at the 
top of the dials, except when the instrument is improperly adjusted. 

When such coincidence does not take place, the outer dial must 
be read at the point exactly coinciding with the steel index, and the 
distance there indicated, which is noted on the outer dial in miles 
and tenths of miles, must be added to the result obtained from the 
inner dial. 

RAIN-GAUGE. 

The rain-gauge should be placed with the top of the collector 
twelve inches above the surface of the ground, and be firmly fixed 
in a vertical position. It should be examined each morning at the 
usual time of observation, and its contents carefully measured by a 
graduated rod, which is furnished with the gauge. Snow should be 
melted and measured as rain. The gauge should be emptied for 
each observation. When possible, it is important to keep several 
rain-gauges in different but adjacent localities, as the results are 
liable to be much affected by local peculiarities, 



40 AGRICULTURAL STATIONS. 



AGRICULTURAL STATIONS. 



The readers of agricultural literature, as it comes to us from the 
other side of the water, hear much concerning " agricultural sta- 
tions " as they exist in France, Germany and elsewhere. The cha- 
racter of these stations, and the nature of the work performed in 
connection with them, are not clearly understood. The first station 
established in Germany was in 1851, and it is still in existence, and 
one of the best managed in the empire. Twelve more were estab- 
lished from 185 1 to 1 86 1, and since the latter date 26 have been 
founded, making 38 in all. In France the first station was founded 
1858. It was amalgamated with a school of forestry, and is in con- 
nection with a large university. In 1872 the first was founded in 
Belgium, and in 1872 also the first in Italy. There are now nine 
stations in the latter country. In Switzerland six have been estab- 
lished, and there they have stations devoted to milk, cheese and 
other milk products. The chemistry of these, the most important 
products of the district, is carefully studied. There are two in 
Sweden, and one has been founded in Holland. 

Now, what are the objects of an agricultural station ? It is rather 
difficult to arrange them, because there are stations which have be- 
come limited to single objects. A station in a forest district devotes 
itself especially to the study of forestry. In the south of France and 
in Italy others are devoted to the treatment and manufacture of 
products derived from the vine, tobacco, sjlk, etc. There are some 
ten to twelve stations which are entirely absorbed in the study of 
such products and of olives and olive-oil. The objects of an agri- 
cultural station may, however, be arranged as follows: (i) objects 
which are of a definite scientific character — experiments on vegeta- 
bles, on earth and soil, and on the treatment of the products ; (2) 
the development and feeding of animals, researches upon newly- 
discovered materials, the analysis of soils, of food and of waste 
products. One of the most important, because most practical, of 
the objects which the station has in view is (3) the control of the 
artificial-manure manufacture. At one of the agricultural stations 
of Germany in 1867 the amount of manure analyzed for manufac- 
turers in the neighborhood was in value $675,000. That was the 
value of the manure sold under the guarantee of the station. The 
manufacturer makes a contract with a station, by which the profes- 
sors are allowed at any time to come to the warehouses and take 
any samples they like, to seal them up in the presence of witnesses, 
and to analyze them,. and then, if found correct, they are sold under 



ATMOSPHERIC FERTILITY. 4 1 



the guarantee of the station. The results are published by the 
authorities, so that the farmer has a public guarantee instead of a 
private one. The field experiments are not confined to the station 
alone, but the station is in correspondence with others all over the 
country, and similar experiments are carried out in many parts of 
the empire of Germany at the present time. 

The fourth object of the station is the teaching department. In 
many cases the professors take a tour in the district and give lec- 
tures and hold conferences, and in this way they spread a know- 
ledge of the facts gathered in the preceding year by the work of the 
station. The training of agricultural chemists is also practised, and 
they issue reports and publications which make known the progress 
made in scientific agriculture. 

The fifth object of the station is meteorological observations. The 
weather, rain, temperature and wind are recorded, and conclusions 
are arrived at for the guidance of agriculture. 

Agricultural stations in a modified form, if estabhshed in this 
country, would do a large amount of good. After twelve years 
spent in conducting farm experiments in a practical way, we have 
reached some conclusions regarding the best form of aiding agricul- 
ture by schools of instruction. Experiment stations are now being 
introduced into this country ; the States of Connecticut, Massachu- 
setts, New York and New Jersey each have one, and the good work 
should not stop until there is one in every State. 



When the wind is east the turkeys gobble; 
It is no time a horse to hobble; 
But let him range to catch the breeze. 
Should he be troubled with the heaves. 

ATMOSPHERIC FERTILITY. 



Is there any, and if any, how much, fertile matter is there in the 
atmosphere, and how made available to vegetation ? First, then, 
we will assert or assume that all the elements necessary to the 
production of all vegetation is found in the atmosphere. They are, 
to be sure, exceedingly minute, but still they are there. How often 
we have seen after a heavy thunder-shower very fine particles of 
sulphur around the edges of little pools of water by the roadside ! and 
where is the farmer who is willing to say there is no fertile matter 
in sulphur ? Let us, then, at once admit there is fertile matter in the 
atmosphere, and proceed to the securing it for our use. 



42 ATMOSPHERIC FERTILITY. 

To test the matter, we selected a medium dry piece of ground 
that had been tilled without much manure. No i plowed six 
times in a moist, damp time; No. 2 plowed six times in a dry, 
windy time ; used no manure or fertilizing matter of any kind on 
either piece except what was in the atmosphere, the object being to 
test the atmosphere. Planted various kinds of seeds, alike on both 
pieces ; had quite a fair yield on that plowed in damp weather, 
but little or none on that plowed in dry, windy weather. Since 
this trial we have endeavored always to plow dry land in moist 
weather, and vice versa wet land. Hence, if possible, plow dry 
land in moist weather, and wet land in dry weather ; also in work- 
ing over manure do it on a damp day. And in preparing muck, 
when you can't afford to use anything with it, fork it over as many 
limes as you can afford to in damp weather, and keepit protected 
from the weather. 

The reasons for working dry land and manures in moist, damp 
weather are that the atmosphere, being lighter than when dry, 
allows the saltpetre and ammonia to remain at or near the surface ; 
and as the ammonia is equally distributed in soil and air, what you 
turn out by plowing is supplied by the abundance you turn under, 
which lies at the surface. Farmers having light, dry soils to culti- 
vate, and unable to get much manure, if they would aim to plow, 
hoe and work such land in the weather specified, will find far bet- 
ter crops than if done in dry, windy weather. Farmers will say 
they can't kill the weeds so well in damp as dry weather. But 
never mind that: if weeds show a determined disposition to grow, 
rest assured there is something there that gives them that dispo- 
sition ; and what will cause them to grow is sure to cause what you 
desire to raise to grow also. The reason for working wet soils in dry, 
windy weather is, ammonia and iron are in excess and in a com- 
paratively crude state, needing powerful atmospheric action to blend 
those elements together with soil-element suitable to feed the roots 
■ of vegetation. 

Muck needs the same treatment as wet soils. In experimenting 
we have taken a cord of cow manure (being careful to have no urine 
among it) and a cord of vegetable muck formed from hard and soft 
wood-timber ; worked them over separately five or six times each 
' in moist weather ; applied them separately to a piece of land ex- 
' hausted specially for the experiment ; planted various kinds of seeds 
on each piece. The muck almost invariably gave the best results. 

The reason for keeping the urine from the manure is to test the 
relative value of muck and fibrous manures, unaided by-the extra 
amount iif potash and salt found in the uriA«» 



farmers' homes. 43 



FARMERS' HOMES. 



There is no subject more important for a farmer to consider than 
the one why boys who are brought up on farms are usually so 
anxious to leave home. It is no doubt true that large cities possess 
an almost irresistible attraction to very many, but that does not ac- 
count sufficiently for the giving up the almost certainty of an inde- 
pendent, honorable, affluent and pleasant career for a chimerical 
prospect of great gain, or to settle down as merchants' clerks, me- 
chanics or hewers of wood and drawers of water in our villages^ 
towns and cities. In these days of daily newspapers, almost perfect 
mail-communication, the electric telegraph and fast trains the most 
that is enjoyable in the city is shared by the intelligent and enter- 
prising farmer, while he has not to endure the many disadvantages 
of city life ; and it is in his power to secure to himself almost every- 
thing that makes life worth living. And just here is the key to the 
whole matter. There are a large number of farmers who seem to 
ignore the bright and beautiful side of life. To them grass was 
made alone for cattle to eat, not for men to look at and enjoy ; to 
them flowers are weeds, books a snare, rest and comfort idleness 
and self-indulgence. They give their cattle the very best attention, 
but let their children take care of themselves and find their own 
amusements — a task as difficult under the circumstances as that 
given by the Egyptians to the Israelites, of making bricks without 
straw. The home is comfortless ; there is nothing to interest in the 
long winter evenings ; everything is dull, weary, monotonous, and 
the younger generation are only too anxious to escape from it ; and 
the only refuge seems to be the city, which swallows them up as 
greedily as the ocean its wrecks. 

The remedy is obvious. Handsome, comfortable houses — not 
merely a number of furnished rooms, but comfortable, home-like 
houses — snugly embowered in miniature parks, with neat lawns and 
flower- and vegetable-gardens ; good common-school education for 
the childran, who ought to be taught the principles of growth and 
successful farming, thus classing it with the sciences ; newspapers, . 
music, an occasional visit to the cities to see what they are like and 
how disagreeable they are, — such things as these will keep the 
children on the farm. This is no fancy sketch, and is consistent 
with the best and most profitable farming, for here, as everywhere 
^Ise, the best wins, after all. 



Carrots are by far the best roots for feeding to horses. 



44 GOOD AND BAD. THE BEST. 



GOOD AND BAD. 



There runs a fence separating two farms. The same sun shines 
on both ; both are subject to the summer's drought, the frosts of 
early spring and fall, the tempest in harvest-time, the deluge after 
seeding ; the soil is, or originally was, the same. But one year after 
another it pays well to farm the one ; the other grows poorer, and 
the owner grows poorer as the years roll on. The reason is not 
difficult to discover. Ignorance and carelessness are at the bottom 
of all losses by farming under ordinary circumstances. It is esti- 
mated that at least half the losses on farms are preventible. The 
parching and freezing winds may be broken by a skirting of trees, 
and the drought prevented by their cultivation. The proper rota- 
tion of crops, the judicious cultivation of clover, the intelligent selec- 
tion of crops for particular places, care in the choice and preparation 
of seed, careful manuring, exact judgment as to the time to plow, 
sow and harvest, would almost double the aggregate product of the 
farms of our country, and leave the land in much better condition 
than it is to-day. Proper cultivation does not impoverish the soil, 
but puts back into it in a cheap form that which is extracted in the 
shape of grain. By it fifty acres are made to produce more than a 
hundred, at almost half the expense, and through it farmers become 
rich and independent, the lords of the soil instead of its slaves. 
This thought is inseparable from the one. What is to be the charac- 
ter of the next generation of farmers ? If they are to be successful, 
they must receive a special education for their work. They will 
have greater competition than their fathers ever had, and to meet 
it there should be no common school in which the foundation-truths 
of agriculture are not taught as well as those of arithmetic. 



THE BEST. 



There is always a demand for the best in all lines of production. 
There is no exception in the case of products of the farm. It costs 
no more to feed well-bred sheep, hogs or cattle than ill-bred ones, 
but the former will sell at good prices, while the latter are left an 
expense on the owners' hands or are sacrificed at a loss, to be got 
rid of. There are certain butter-makers in every market whose 
products are eagerly sought for, and sold above the market-price 
before they are offered, because they are known to make the best 
and offer for sale nothing that is not first-class. Now-a-days, every- 



ONE CONTINUOUS HARVEST. 45 



thing is classified according to value. If there is a surplus on the 
market, the best is taken, the poorest left ; if the market is scarce, 
the best commands any reasonable price, the inferior goods sell for 
much less. Why, then, do not our farmers aim to produce every- 
thing of the best quality ? Many of them are actuated by the spirit 
to make the most of their opportunities, but there are many others 
who seem to think that what was good enough for their fathers must 
be good enough for them. So it would be if their neighbors were 
not improving, and thus raising the general standard of excellence. 
What was considered good enough fifty years ago will not stand 
the test now. As long as the highest prices are paid-for the best, 
the more enterprising farmers will spare neither pains nor expense 
to produce the best ; and if their neighbors do not exert themselves 
to keep up, they soon will find themselves lamentably in the back- 
ground. Our farmers must keep abreast of the times. They must 
think ; they must read ; they must study ; they must experiment ; 
they must exert their minds to the fullest extent to drag out from 
Mother Earth her secrets of fertility. Let them do it, and she will 
reward them with fertile fields and good crops in abundance, and 
they will enjoy the richest blessings of the most satisfying and 
noblest occupation on earth. 



BUT ONE CONTINUOUS HARVEST. 



The earth brings forth its harvest during the whole year, and 
while resting in one section it is bringing forth its fruit in another, 

January sees harvest ended in most districts of Australia, and 
shipments made of the new crop, whilst in New Zealand, Chili and 
some other of the South American republics harvest begins. 

February, Marc /i.— Upper Egypt and India begin and continue 
harvest throughout these months. 

April enlarges the number with harvest in Syria, Cyprus, coast 
of Egypt, Mexico, Cuba, Persia and Asia Minor. 

May is a busy time in Central Asia, Persia, Asia Minor, Algeria, 
Syria, Morocco, Texas, Florida, China and Japan. 

June calls forth the harvestmen in Cahfornia, Oregon, the Mid- 
dle and Southern United States, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Hungary, 
Roumelia, Turkey, South Russia, Danubian states, south of France, 
Greece, Sicily, and in Kentucky, Kansas, Colorado, etc. 

Jti/y usually sees harvest begin in the southern, eastern and mid- 
land English counties ; in Oregon, Nebraska, Minnesota, Iowa, Illi- 
nois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, New England, New York, Virginia 



46 ^DIVISION OF THE CROP. 

and Upper Canada ; in France, Germany, Austria, Italy, Switzer- 
land, Hungary and Poland. 

August continues the gathering in the United Kingdom, France^ 
Germany, Belgium, Holland, Manitoba, Lower Canada, Denmark 
and Poland. 

September rules Scotland, parts of England, America, Sweden, 
North Russia; and in France buckwheat is harvested. 

October sees wheat, oats, etc. gathered in Scotland, and corn in 
America. 

November. — Harvest-time begins in South Africa, Peru and North 
Australia ; and in 

December the Argentine Republic, Chili and South Australia be- 
gin to reap their harvest. 

'Tis always harvest somewhere in the world ; 
Th' unwearied sun ne'er pauses in his work : 
His rising and his setting's but the blush 
That mantles on the cheek of passing earth 
In the bright levee-presence of her king. 
The husbandman who seeds his English land 
In dark November sows it whilst strong wheat 
Grows ripe in Greater Britain's austral plains, 
• Where Christmas-tide's the time for harvest-homes. 
All days are golden, and the whole year but strings 
On which the master-harper of the world, 
The Sun, is ever making harvest-songs. 

— From London " Graphic ^ 



DIVISION OF THE CROP. 



One part cast forth for rent due out of hand ; 
One part for seed to sow thy land ; 
Another part leave parson for his tithe ; 
Another part for harvest, sickle and sithe ; 
One part for ploughwrite, cartwrite, knacker and smith ; 
One part to uphold thy teams and draw therewith ; 
Another part for servant and workman's wages laie ; 
One part likewise for filbellie daie by daie ; 
One part thy wife for needful things doth crave ; 
Thyself and thy child the last part would have. 
^From Tti^i^'s ''Five Hundred Points 0/ Ilusbqndry,'' published ij6g. 



DUTCH, FRIESIAN OR HOLSTEINS. 4/ 



EXCELLENT POINTS OF AN ANIMAL. 

An OX with broad horns and short glossy hair 
Is good for a team, the market or fair. 
One white foot is bad, and two are too many ; 
The horse is best that does not have any. 

THE COW. 



On the Best Breeds — How to Choose a Good Cow — How to Keep Her in 

Permanent Fj-ofit. 



BY WILLIS P. HAZARD. 

To properly consider and answer the question, What are the best 
breeds of cows for butter and milk dairies ? the farmer will not sim- 
ply declare his preference for the Holstein, the Hereford, the Devon, 
the Shorthorn or Durham, the Guernsey, the Ayrshire, or, though 
last and least, still not the least important, the Jersey breed, nor 
even for the native with its imperfectly traced and mingled ances- 
try, but will carefully study the merits of each, or at least such as 
may be within. his reach, for the three leading points oi yield, profit 
and food ; or, in other words, the early period at which they are 
ripe for the butcher, the great amount of food they produce in re- 
turn for the food they consume, and the large proportion of prime 
meat which they yield. A proper consideration of these three points 
will naturally tend to the study of " How to select a good cow," 
and, having obtained such a one, " How to maintain her in the 
best condition for profit." 

THE DUTCH, FRIESIAN OR HOLSTEINS. 

The enthusiastic admirers of the Holstein or Dutch breed — and 
their numbers are rapidly being increased — as well as the best au- 
thorities upon the subject, all agree that the best strains of milking- 
qualities are derived from the Holstein breed. That the Danes im- 
ported into England stock from Denmark, Jutland and Holstein is 
matter of history. They settled in the county of Durham ; from thence 
their cattle spread eventually all over England — became known as 
Shorthorns, and as such have been imported into America, where 
by great care they have been so much improved as to be exported 
again to England at fabulous prices, and have there taken some 
of the most important prizes. But while the attention of the Eng- 
lish cattle-breeders has been given to improving and perfecting 
the beef-producing qualities of their Shorthorns, the Dutch dairy- 
fa^m^rs have been improving their dairy stock until they have at* 



48 DUTCH, FRIESIAN OR HOLSTEINS. 



tained to a degree of excellence unsurpassed by any other breed. 
The reasons for these two lines of management are easily seen : in 
England the price of meat has so enormously increased of late 
years as to pay farmers better to raise meat and import their butter 
and cheese ; while in Holland their attention is devoted especially 
to the dairy and the manufacture of butter and cheese, and there- 
fore they are especially particular in the breeding, keeping and care 
of milch cows. 

When selecting a cow to breed from, they choose one of a con- 
siderable size, not less than four and a half or five feet girth, with a 
length of body corresponding; legs proportionately short; a finely- 
formed head, with a forehead or face somewhat concave; clear, 
large, mild and sparkling eyes, yet with no expression of wildness ; 
tolerably large and stout ears, standing out from the head ; fine, 
well-curved horns ; a rather short than long, thick, broad neck, 
well set against the chest and withers ; the front part of the chest 
and the shoulders must be broad and fleshy ; the low-hanging dew- 
lap must be soft to the touch ; the back and loins must be properly 
projected, somewhat broad ; the bones not too deep, but well cov- 
ered with flesh ; the animal should have long, curved ribs, which 
form a large breast-bone ; the body must be round and deep, but 
not sunken into a hanging belly ; the rump must not be uneven ; 
the hip-bones should not stand out too broad and spreading, but 
all the parts be level and well filled up ; a fine tail, set moderately 
high up, and tolerably long, but slender, with a thick, bushy tuft of 
hair at the end, hanging down below the hocks ; the legs must be 
short and low, but strong in the bony structure ; the knees broad, 
with flexible joints ; the muscles and sinews must be firm and 
sound ; the hoofs broad and flat, and the position of the legs nat- 
ural, not too close and crowded ; the hide, covered with fine glossy 
hair, must be soft and mellow to the touch, and set loose upon the 
body ; a large, rather long, white and loose udder, extending well 
back, with four long teats ; large and prominent milk-veins must 
extend from the navel back to the udder. The color of the North 
Dutch cattle is black and white beautifully contrasted. 

The Holsteins are now recognized as a very superior kind of 
large Shorthorn cattle, remarkably good for milk, both in quantity 
and quality. As working-oxen they have a very high reputation, 
being large, strong, well-made, quick, high-spirited, have great endu- 
rance of heat, are very muscular, and, having great aptitude to fatten, 
drovers and butchers esteem them highly. They are extremely 
valuable to cross with other breeds. 

Four cows, each five years old, measured six feet four inches in 



THE SHORTHORNS. 4^ 



girth, seven feet six inches in length, four feet six inches in height, 
and weighed twelve hundred and fifty pounds, none varying much 
from these dimensions. One of the four produced at four years old, 
in the month of June, an average of fifty-six pounds of milk per day 
for thirty days, and one year later, in seven days, seventy-three 
pounds per day. The milk, too, is of the most fattening and nu- 
tritive quality, as is evidenced by a calf born in August weighing at 
birth one hundred and ten pounds, increasing in eighty days to 
three hundred and fifty pounds, or an average gain of three pounds 
per day. 

As the*Holsteins are peculiarly adapted to our section of country, 
are excellent for cheese-making or production of milk for the family 
and market, and for butter, we hope to see the breed more extended, 
believing they are pre-eminently adapted to the wants of the general 
farmer, combining the three desirable qualities of dairy, beef and 
work-cattle. One objection has been made to them — that if proper 
attention is not paid to their breeding they are apt to degenerate 
into large, coarse stock. 

THE SHORTHORNS. 

The Shorthorns would naturally next claim our attention, deriving 
so much as they did from the Dutch breed, and also on account of 
the importance to which they have attained in the United States. 
In 1815 and 18 16 a few Shorthorns were imported into this country, 
and for the next four years more were imported into Kentucky, were 
carefully bred, and from thence spread through the Western coun- 
try. In 1834 an association in Ohio brought over nineteen head, 
and in the following year two additional lots, and since then several 
hundred with well-established pedigrees have been imported into 
the United States. From the fact that the first prominent breeders 
of the Shorthorns resided in Durham county, they took the name of 
Durhams, and have so retained it with many of our farmers ever 
since. 

During the fifty years the Shorthorns have been domesticated in 
this country they have been imported in greater numbers than any 
other breed, they are more widely known, and have acquired greater 
popularity ; surely this must have been from some good qualities 
which have so strongly tended to recommend them. They have 
become acclimated, and are healthy, thriving on common food 
equally well with our native cattle. They are of large size, fine, 
tender meat, grow rapidly, and take on meat and fat fast in propor- 
tion to the amount of food they consume ; make powerful and docile 
oxen, are excellent in the dairy, giving large quantities of milk and 
4 



50 THE SHORTHORNS. 



butter and rich cheese. With all these qualities we might readily 
suppose pure Shorthorns were just the breed for farmers. Our own 
choice is the Durham, the Jersey, and the Durham and Jersey mixed. 
Wherever there is good pasturage and plenty of winter fodder the 
Durhams will thrive well, but they are not the breed for stony land 
with scant herbage, where they have their living to earn ; the Devon 
or the Kerry cow is the one for that. 

With many of our farmers the Shorthorns have the reputation of 
being better beef-producers than milk-raisers ; but where proper at- 
tention is paid to having the bull of stock showing a strong milking 
tendency, and the cow the same, excellent stock can be raised for 
quantity and quality of milk. They are naturally good milkers, 
and where raised for that object no milch cows exceed them. It has 
been from the undue attention to their beef-producing qualities that 
many have been led to suppose they were not as good milkers as 
some other breeds ; we have always found their milk to be very 
rich. 

We will now give the points by which to select a pure-bred Short- 
horn bull, merely repeating that for milk-cow breeding a bull de- 
scended from milk cows must be selected. The bull's head should 
be fine, yet masculine ; the muzzle small ; the nostril wide and open ; 
the nose cream-color, orange or drab, even a nut-brown, but never 
smoky or black ; the face and jaws lean of flesh ; the forehead 
broad, the face slightly dishing or concave; the eyes prominent, 
bright and mild ; the ears small and lively in action ; the horn well 
set, flattish in shape, and waxy, not white, in color, with no black, 
except at the very tips, inclining outward, and not much upward. 
The neck should be somewhat arching, as showing masculine 
strength and power, and setting well back on the shoulders, with 
a clean throat and no dewlap, except a slight pendulous thread of 
skin at the brisket. 

The shoulders should be set wide, straight and open at the top, 
smooth at the points, with a bull-neck vein, ending below with a 
full, thick brisket, projecting forward. The knees should stand 
wide, and below them a firm, compact leg, ending in a clean, well- 
shaped hoof. The chine and back should be on a level from the 
shoulders to the tail ; the ribs round, springing roundly in an arch 
from the back, and running down to give full room for the heart 
and lungs to play in a broad, deep chest. The hips should be wide 
and on a level with the back ; the flank full and low ; the loin full, 
long, level and broad ; the rump level and well-shaped ; the tail set 
symmetrically and level, small and round in shape ; the thighs 
broad; the gambrel-joints straight, and the leg below fine and 



THE DEVONS AND AYR5HIRES. 5 1 



sinewy. Fineness of bone and a soft, elastic touch, or "good 
handling," are also two indispensable points. The temper should 
be mild and gentle. 

The same points apply to the cow, though modified by the gentler 
and more refined qualities of her sex. If the milking-qualities are 
no object to the breeder, he will select only for symmetry, good 
constitution and general excellence. If milk be the obj ect, the parts 
indicating that quality are to be considered, and selections made 
accordingly. 

As to the color, tastes differ. Red, red and white and the red 
roans are mostly preferred, but any color from red to clear white is 
a good Shorthorn color. White is usually least preferred, simply as 
a matter of taste, and therefore as a color for thorough-breds is not 
so saleable ; but for beef-breeding the color is of little consequence, 
so that the animal itself is good. Specimens of this breed have 
brought the highest prices ever given for cattle. 

THE DEVONS. 

The Devons may fairly next claim our attention, as perhaps, next 
to the Shorthorns, more of this breed have been imported into this 
country than of any other. Of this breed whilst on a visit to Dev- 
onshire we noticed two kinds, the North and the South Devons, 
evidently originally from the same stock, but by a long course of 
breeding in special localities of quite different appearance— the 
North Devons of smaller size and a deep rich red color, the South 
Devons more of a tawny red, rather larger and more chunky ; the 
cows of the former weighing about one thousand pounds, and those 
of the latter about twelve hundred pounds. The South Devons are 
very beautiful, of small bone, but of very fleshy appearance, as they 
rapidly take on flesh at two and a half years old. 

The Devons, while giving moderate quantities of milk, give that 
of very rich quality ; therefore for those who have milk dairies we 
should not recommend them, but a few to help the butter-yield and 
improve the color is desirable. As oxen they have no superiors, 
being of moderate siz.e, weighing about fifteen hundred pounds, 
though often fattened to two thousand pounds; active of foot, 
though their short limbs would hardly indicate it ; easily fattened, 
as thQY " take on " very quickly, affording the choicest meat for the 
butcher ; and withal they are docile, amiable and easily taught ; 
they will thrive where larger or more delicate animals would hardly 
live, being hardy and vigorous. 

THE AYRSHIRES. 

Among the milk-breeds prominent in the British Isles the Ayr- 



52 THE AYRSHIRES. 



shires hold a leading place. They derive the name from the county 
of Ayr in Scotland, where they are principally kept. Their superior 
qualities as milkers and for hardiness of constitution have induced 
\arious writers to attribute part of their origin to their favorite breeds. 
Nearly equal testimony is offered in favor of the Holsteins, the 
Shorthorn and the Jersey, though the weight of the testimony is in 
favor of the Jersey. They have always borne the character of being 
prolific milkers, with butyraceous quality particularly in proportion 
to their size, which is small. The Ayrshire farmers, finding more 
profit in their dairies, have paid great attention to improving this 
breed, so well suited to them ; and perhaps no breed affords a better 
illustration of what care and design will do to develop peculiar 
properties in an animal at the expense of other qualities. The result 
is dairy animals of high quality, and they have been introduced 
largely into England, the north of Ireland and this country. 

Instances are cited of large yields, but we believe the usual aver- 
age to be six hundred gallons per year, or one hundred and seven- 
ty-five pounds of butter, or four hundred and thirty pounds of 
cheese, where they are well fed and cared for. The oxen work 
kindly, and steers can be turned off at three years old weighing 
seven or eight hundred pounds. The beef is excellent, the fat 
being much mixed with the flesh, though not a favorite with the 
butcher, as he cannot sell so much tallow as from other breeds. 

The following are the principal points : The head must be small, 
high and bony ; the eye bright ; the horn white, with a dark tip, 
widely set on, inclining upward, and curving slightly inward ; neck 
very thin and light, as the whole fore end must be ; shoulder thin 
at the top ; the posterior ribs must spring well from the backbone ; 
the loin must be broad and form well with the wide hips and the 
capacious pelvis ; the whole frame thus forms a true wedge, with the 
point at the shoulder. The rumps are wide and tolerably high, the 
tail long and slender, the legs straight, the thigh rather thin, and 
the udder must be large and broad, extending well forward, with 
thin, flexible skin, 2.nd teats wide apart, hanging perpendicularly, 
and from two to two and a half inches long. The colors must be 
red and white, splashed and blotched, and becoming roan, as in 
the Shorthorn, but with cloudy-defined edges ; the white portion is 
often flecked with the darker color. Black and white, brown and 
white, are not uncommon now ; the darker the red, even becoming 
deep brown, the more fashionable. 

Popular as this breed has become in New England, we believe it 
will never become very much so in rich sections. Rich pastures 
will support larger breeds, which when turned off and fattened will 



THE JERSEYS. 53 



bring in more money. As a breed to cross with larger stock, or 
even with the Jersey to increase the richness of its great flow of 
milk, we would recommend it highly. 

THE JERSEYS. 

The Jerseys — formerly called Alderneys, from the fact that they 
were imported into England from the Channel Isles, of which Jer- 
sey and Alderney are well known — have of late years so occupied 
public attention that we must devote some space to their well- 
defined merits. 

The Jerseys are noted for their extraordinary richness of milk and 
their beautiful form, thus making them the most desirable breed for 
small country places, for crossing with other breeds to improve the 
strain of milking qualities, and for giving character to the butter of 
the dairyman. 

Brought up in a mild climate which hardly knows any winter, 
they have been imported into this country, and stand the change 
and the rigors of our winter nearly if not quite as well as our natives, 
and in fact improve so much that many good breeders claim that 
we have fine cows born' here of the Jersey breed that are superior to 
the majority of those in the Channel Islands. 

In their native country great care is taken of^ them ; they are 
housed from the wet, are carefully fed, and form almost as much 
one of the family as the pig in Ireland. When pasturing, as the 
farms are very small, they are tethered by a rope attached to their 
horns, allowing them a circle of sixteen feet diameter, and changed 
to new spots three times a day. With the constant contact they 
have with the farmers, or mostly their wives, who have the princi- 
pal care of them, the cows become very docile and affectionate. In 
this country, where the same care is not taken of them, they some- 
times become wild, and even very cross. 

The peculiar colors and beautiful shape of the Jerseys at once 
excite attention, and enable them to be recognized at a glance, their 
deer-like heads and large prominent eyes being very noticeable. 
Their chief characteristics are : in the cow the head is small, thin 
and rather long ; her horn is short, delicate and curved forward, 
white with a dark tip ; her muzzle is black, and encircled with a 
band of light color, as is the eye, which is bright, large and prom- 
inent ; her ear is small and flexible, the inside skin being bright 
yellow : her neck is thin and delicate, and of medium length ; her 
shoulders thin and sloping, and forming with the fore ribs a gradual 
slope outward to the hips ; the back tolerably straight from withers 
to setting on of tail, though generally with some sway from the size 



54 THE JERSEYS. 



and weight of the stomach, which is large ; her loin is wide and the 
hind quarters well spread, and pelvis roomy ; her tail is long and 
delicate, with a full brush at the end ; the thighs are thin ; chest 
deep, though narrov\f ; legs very fine below the knee ; hocks slightly 
turned inward ; udder large, reaching well forward, with teats of 
moderate size placed wide apart ; skin thin, and not too loose ; hair 
smooth and fine. The color varies : yellow, yellow and white, 
mouse-color or dun, brown, and almost black, are the chief tints. 
The bulls are usually darker than the females, and the depth of 
color increases with age. The head of the calf is strikingly like 
that of a fawn, and at all ages the peculiar coloring, large dark eye 
and flexible ear give the head a deer-like look. 

The milk of the Jersey cow is particularly rich, and is of a deep 
yellow color, yielding a butter of a rich golden color and of pecu- 
Harly firm grain and fine flavor. The amount of cream is proved 
to be from 19 to 25 per cent. While the quantity given is not large, 
but in proportion to her small size good, its pecuhar richness and 
color make it of great importance in giving character to the milk of 
a dairy. Twelve quarts per day is perhaps a fair average, though 
it is proved by analysis to be far richer in butyraceous qualities than 
that of any other breed. 

The Jersey is not a large consumer, even in proportion to her 
size, and when dry thrives fast and makes excellent beef; the calves 
are, however, not a favorite with the butcher. As a breed to cross 
with the native the Jersey has no superior, refining those of a coarse 
tendency, and giving her pecuharly rich color of milk, cream and 
butter. The principal drawback in their breeding qualities is that 
they are not sure getters. 

As a dairy cow for the farmer the Jersey will never be very pop- 
ular, the first cost being too great for profit compared with other 
stock ; for a milk dairy the yield is not large enough ; for a butter 
dairy, while the yield is very great and of the best quality of but- 
ter, it will not pay the general farmer, but only those who attend 
market personally and have particular customers who will pay 
fancy prices. But we would strongly advise every farmer to keep 
at least one Jersey to every ten, if not to every six, cows, of what- 
ever breed. And we think no better cows can be raised than by 
the use of a Jersey bull with cows of native or other stock which 
have proved themselves prolific milkers. And here we should like 
to say a few words against the practice now so common amongst 
us of raising few cows, and buying our supplies for the dairy from 
herds that we can know but little of. One good cow that proves 
herself valuable as a milk or butter cow should have her progeny 



tttE GUERNSEYS. 55 



well got and carefully reared. Any farmer can better afford to 
raise such than to purchase from chance opportunities ; and the 
cost of two or three good calves raised upon a farm each year will 
never be felt, and in a short time they will come into profit. It 
stands to reason that the stock that is raised by a farmer at a dis- 
tance and sent here to be sold cannot be the raiser's best, those he 
is sure to keep, and it can hardly pay us to buy the poorest to 
milk a few years and turn over to the butcher. 

In improving our stock we must breed intelligently, bearing in 
mind that the cow needed for the dairy cannot, under any circum- 
stances, be selected for those qualities which will produce fat — the 
two natures are incompatible : to have the best meat we must get 
rid of every tendency to milk, and to have the best butter we must 
obviate every disposition to fat. We cannot have both qualities in 
the same animal, and the attempt will end only in disappointment. 
And this is one of the proofs of the great value of the Jersey for 
the dairy : the unusual secretion of the fat in the milk may reason- 
ably be attributed to the slight waste of the fat-forming portions of 
the food that moderate respiration and limited exercise make pos- 
sible, and to the fact that the fat in this form, rather than in flesh, 
has long been the prime object of the farmer's attention. 

THE GUERNSEYS. 

The Guernsey breed is one that is now rapidly coming into favor 
as the farmer's cow. It has all the merits of the Jersey for rich 
milk and high-class butter, and, although it has not the beauty of 
the Jersey, still it is a larger animal and gives a much larger quan- 
tity of milk. To those who are acquainted with her excellent qual- 
ities the Guernsey cow has a beauty that is highly valued. The 
quietness and docility of both cows and bulls is very strong recom- 
mendation of them as one of the best points of a milking stock. 

As large as a small Durham, they are usually of a lemon-fawn 
or a reddish-yellow color, largely blotched with white. The white, 
besides being on the sides, across the back and shoulders, and 
often on the neck, on the belly and at the tip of the tail, is almost 
always on all four legs, more or less. Around the eye should be 
circles of buff or yellow ; on the muzzle buff, though black is now 
being admitted on account of its frequency. The head is long ; 
the eye mild and placid in its expression ; the horns waxy, thin 
and crumpled; the skin usually of a rich golden color; the hair, 
even when a little long, soft and fine. Altogether, the animal 
speaks for itself as a rich butyraceous milk-giver, and in large 
quantities. No finer butter is made than the firm, waxy-grained, 



$6 THE HEREFORDS, GALLOWAYS AND KERRYS. 



self-colored butter of the Guernsey. The cream is of the most 
golden hue. 

The Guernsey when crossed upon other breeds makes its mark 
strongly, enriching the qualities of the breed crossed ; and where 
this has occurred we have seen the traces of the Guernsey inter- 
mixture many years after the original stock was gone. At the 
present time, owing to their scarcity, the Guernseys bring the high- 
est prices, but when they shall become more plentiful they will 
continue to grow rapidly in favor and become the popular cow for 
the farmer. 

We have devoted so much time to the value of a few of the leading 
and most popular breeds that we shall have to hurriedly allude to 
the Herefords, the Galloways, the Kerry cow or the Swiss cattie. 

THE HEREFORDS. 

The Herefords, supposed to have sprung from the same stock 
as the Devons, have the same rich color, but always with a white 
face, and should be white on the throat and the under portion of 
the body. In size the Hereford ranks next to the Shorthorn, at- 
taining very nearly as great weight at not quite so early an age ; 
but the graziers prefer Shorthorn heifers and Hereford steers ; 
they make excellent oxen and steers, but the cows are not prime 
milkers : this reason makes them popular in England, where beef 
is the principal object, but they will probably never attain so much 
popularity here, though when better known they will be more 
sought for in the West, particularly as they are lower-priced 
than the Shorthorns. 

THE GALLOWAYS. 

The Galloways, more introduced into Canada than into our coun- 
try, are natives of the Lowlands of Scotland ; they are usually 
black, and without horns, and as they are best fitted for colder 
and rougher sections than here, are not likely ever to be much in- 
troduced, as, though their milk is rich, it is deficient in quantity. 
They fatten on scanty fare, have a hardy constitution, yield a su- 
perior quality of beef, but are slow in coming to maturity. 

THE KERRYS. 

The Kerry cows we saw in perfection in the vicinity of the Lakes 
of Killarney, and tasted their rich milk. They have been im- 
ported in small numbers, particularly into Massachusetts, As we 
saw them, they were mostly black, some brown or brindled ; they 
are small and very hardy, but neat and trim-looking ; almost wild, 
living in the roughest country on the slimmest sort of pasture, 



SWISS CATTLE — WHAT OUR FARMERS WANT. $y 

which they crop with the goat. They are emphatically the poor 
man's cows, yielding for their size abundance of milk of a good 
quality, and fattening rapidly when I'equired. That the poor man 
appreciates them is proved by the price asked for them, about 
fourteen pounds ; and we saw poor fellows who tasted meat but 
once a year who lived on the buttermilk of their product, with po- 
tatoes and our corn meal, who did not care to sell them for that, 
the butter being nearly the only article that brought them in any 
money, save their labor, as the pig went to pay the rent. Good 
yielders as they are, we think their size and price will prevent them 
from making much progress in this country. 

SWISS CATTLE. 

The Swiss cattle have not been largely imported into this coun- 
try, but they bear a high reputation at home and in France. They 
are hardy and robust, usually of a dun color, or dun and white, with 
medium heads, hanging dewlaps, rather coarse shoulders, and 
broad hips and quarters, with well-developed udders, reminding 
the observer very much of the Jerseys, though of a coarser build. 
They bear removal to other climates readily, fatten well and are 
excellent milkers. The best cows yield an average of from ten to 
twenty quarts daily, and about two hundred and twenty-five pounds 
of cheese in a season of four months. We should be glad to see 
them imported, feeling sure they would much improve with richer 
pasture and be a valuable acquisition. 

WHAT OUR FARMERS WANT. 

We have thus given a short sketch of the most prominent breeds, 
and as each has some distinctive merit, it is nearly impossible, in 
deciding which breed will be of the most profit, to satisfy all tastes 
and judgments ; but as each farmer is apt to have his own favorites 
or dislikes, as his own experience has caused him to think, perhaps 
the truest way to arrive at a correct conclusion will be to ascertain 
what the general farmer needs. 

i^/ry/. He wants a good-sized animal, which will bring most of its 
cost when fed off for beef after failing as a milker. 

Second. He wants a cow that will come into profit early. 

Third. He wants a cow that will give plenty of milk, and rich, 
whether for milk, butter or cheese. 

Fourth. He wants a cow that will consume the least food for 
the product gained. 

Fifth. If raised for oxen, he wants those that will be tractable, 
active and docile, and will feed up quickly for the butcher after 
service. 



58 HOW TO CHOOSE A GOOD COW. 

Is there any one breed that will combine all these qualities ? We 
believe the Durhams will come the nearest to it, or the Durhams 
and Jerseys mixed. And we repeat what we have said before, that 
the farmers should raise their own stock more, by selecting the best 
cows they have or can get, whether native or imported — the latter 
we presume not often, as being too high-priced — and breeding them 
with the best bull of pure stock of known milking-qualities they can 
get. And by paying attention to the business of improving their 
herds, and by judicious crossing, they will soon reap the profit and 
satisfaction they deserve. So much good stock has of late years 
been imported that it is better and cheaper to get cattle that have 
been Americanized than to risk the cost and danger of importation. 
There is, however, a class of farmers, whether amateur or practical, 
whose duty it is to introduce new and valuable stock as they can 
afford it ; but it is also the duty of another class, who can't afford it, 
to encourage such undertakings by paying a little larger price than 
usual for the services of an imported bull, and not, by sneering or 
depreciating the value of all such animals, to make the importer feel 
he has undertaken a thankless task, and an unremunerative one, 
for the extra price even will not pay him. 

HOW TO CHOOSE A GOOD COW. 

Having decided what breed to raise, the first important step is to 
know how to choose a good cow. There are a few general rules. 
See that the cow is as much wedge-shaped as may be ; that is, view- 
ing her from the side, that she increases in height and depth the 
farther you go from the head ; and from the front, that from a small 
head and narrow neck and shoulders she gradually and regularly 
enlarges to a broad hip and back. 2d. See that her " mirror" or 
" escutcheon " is good and free from depreciating marks. 3d. See 
that her milk-veins are large and prominent, and where it enters 
the stomach that the hole — or better if two — is large and deep ; that 
the udder is full in the forward part, and that the teats are of good 
size, well separated, and not too projecting toward the sides. 4th. 
The hair and hide must be soft, mellow and rich. 

A general examination should show the head small, slender and 
lengthy from the eye to the nose ; the horns thin and open, not 
crumped nor too curly ; the eye full, but not too prominent, the lat- 
ter quality indicating an excitability, and consequent restlessness 
of disposition, that is not favorable to the production of milk ; the 
ear lengthy and broad, and well fringed with hair, which protects it 
from the annoyance of flies and indicates a strong constitution ; a 
broad muzzle should be avoided, as showing a tendency to fat ; the 



HOW TO CHOOSE A GOOD COW. 59 

neck should be long, flat and narrow, with a tendency to rise at the 
withers, and breadth behind the arm to allow of a full expansion of 
the lungs, the chest being rather deep than broad ; the flat-sided 
cow is more especially to be chosen if she has depth to the barrel, 
with the ribs bending fairly outward, somewhat the shape of a horse- 
collar ; the hips should be wide, rugged and high, and the pelvis or 
haunches wide and large, drooping toward the tail ; the thigh long 
and lean from hip to hock, the veins being prominent and easily 
felt ; the legs slender, with flat bone ; and small flat feet, the hinder 
ones having a good width between, to afford room for the udder. 
A long and thin tail is a great point in breeding. 

The udder, the reservoir of the milk, to which all former points 
are secondary, should be free from hair, flexible and soft, with no 
tendency to flesh ; the bag extending well forward, as level as pos- 
sible with the belly, and high up between the thighs. The feeding- 
veins should be particularly observed. In the heifer with her first 
calf they must be felt for with the hand ; in this case two holes will 
be discovered by feeling under the belly nearly in a line with the 
navel on each side in good milking heifers — about the size of a 
dime. As age increases the holes extend, and the veins become 
large and easily perceived by the eye ; the larger these feeding- 
veins appear, the greater is the quantity of milk. The teats should 
be well separated, not fat or fleshy, and not too long, but sufficient- 
ly tight to retain the milk, having a tendency downward — that is, 
to use the technical term, not strutimg, or pointing away from the 
quarters, as this causes waste of milk and difficulty in milking. The 
hide also will be found useful in determining the fitness of particular 
cows for particular localities, but has little to do with the milking 
properties. If possible, it is better to accustom a cow to cold and 
exposure by degrees, in which case the hide will adapt itself to the 
altered condition by thickening and producing more hair. 

A good cow not only yields much good milk, but almost in pro- 
portion to the quantity given daily is there a long continuance of 
the secretion between the periods of calving. But no cow should be 
allowed to give milk beyond eight months before calving ; the system 
requires at least one month's rest ; the calf will be larger and health- 
ier, and the mother will yield better and richer milk after calving. 

The fact that the system is more capable of undergoing natural, 
though very marked, changes in early life without danger renders 
a young animal indispensable for the daiiy, either to breed from or 
to prove profitable to the keeper. To deU'?'7nme the age of a cow is 
therefore a matter of importance, and this can be done with great 
precision by examining the teeth and horns. 



6o GUENON*S METHOD. 



To determine the milking-qualities of a cow many important 
points have to be considered. In addition to those we have men- 
tioned, the skin should be free, thin, and may be covered with hair 
of any color, according to the breed. The tail is by some much 
looked to, and it is believed that when fine and reaching down to 
the hocks, with a fine tuft of hair, it is associated with other good 
milking-points. If in addition to large milk-veins the network of 
veins seen beneath the skin over the fore quarters of the udder, and 
the udder itself, and those which pass upward behind toward the 
tail — in fact over the perineum — are large, they are sure tests of a 
competent milker. They should be highly developed, large and 
varicose ; they are irregular, in zigzag lines, knotted, and more or 
less oblique. To estimate them it is necessary to take into account 
the state of the cows in respect to flesh, the thickness of the skin, 
food, general activity, fatigue, journeys, heat. It is necessary also 
to recollect that in both sexes all the veins are larger in the old than 
in the young — that the veins which encircle the udder are those 
which, if the cows are in milk, vary most according to the diiferent 
periods of life ; though scarcely apparent in youth, they are of con- 
siderable size when, after several calvings, the operation of calving 
has given the gland its full development. Finally, there is the most 
valuable of all methods — Guenon's system. 

guenon's method. 

Guenon, rising from the humbler classes, and from his boyhood 
being among milch cows in the vicinity of Bordeaux, narrowly ob- 
served the relation between the amount of milk secreted and the 
development of the patch of skin"* covered with upturned hair ex- 
tending from the udder upward and laterally over the thighs. He 
could tell almost infallibly about the exact quantity any cow would 
give, and the quality. And so may the thorough student of his sys- 
tem, as it is based upon facts and long observation. It is not very 
easy to give intelligibly the whole system, in order to adopt it with- 
out further guide, in a condensed article like this ; a practical de- 
monstration will prove more instructive. But the farmer should not 
fail to become thoroughly acquainted with it, as simj^lified and made 
easy and plain in the book with one hundred engravings published 
by J. M. Stoddart & Co., Philadelphia, entitled How to Select 
Cows, by Willis P. Hazard ; they send it by mail on receipt of fifty 
cents. 

Ten forms of scutcheons or mirrors have been described, an(i 
constitute the basis of Guenon's classification. The surface of the 
scutcheon is distinguished by the hair turned upward and opposite 



MAINTAINING THE COW IN PROFIT FEEDING. 6l 



in direction to that covering other parts of the animal's skin. This 
hair differs from all the rest in color, and is fine, soft and close. 
The scutcheon springs from the middle of the four teats, whence a 
portion of its hair springs and extends toward the navel ; whereas 
the other part rises toward the inner and upper part of the hocks to 
the middle of the posterior surface of the thighs, then, rising over 
the udder on the perineum, it extends in some classes to the upper 
angle of the vulva. 

The surface or extent of the scutcheon denotes the milking 
capacity ; its form and oudine indicate the class ; the fineness of the 
hair and the color of the epidermis the quality of the milk. For the 
most part, it is very easy to distinguish the scutcheons by the up- 
ward direction of the hair which forms them. They are even some- 
times surrounded by a line of bristly hair, turned backward, and 
formed by the meeting of the upward and downward hair. In some 
cases animals thus marked are to be avoided as being bastards. 

It is just as important that the bull should have as good a scutch- 
eon as the cow, as the quahties of the mother inherited by her son 
will be transmitted to her daughters ; and for this reason also is it 
very necessary that the bull shall have a good parentage. 

HOW TO MAINTAIN THE COW IN PROFIT. 

With a good selection made there will necessarily follow the ques- 
tion, How to maintain her in good condition for profit ? It must be 
apparent to ever>^ thinking person that good qualities, even in the 
highest perfection, will not ensure an abundant and rich supply of 
milk unless proper care is taken to furnish the cow with the kind 
of food best calculated for the required purpose. 

THE ART OF FEEDING. 

The first requisite is, that the animal should have abundance of 
food, so as to be able to consume all that she requires in as short 
time as possible, as then she will lie down and have the more time 
to secrete her milk, and that milk acquire richness. In short, she 
must not have to work too hard for her Hving. The pasture should 
be often changed, and if not in pasture the food should be succu- 
lent, otherwise fat instead of milk will be produced ; but cows fed 
with food of too watery a nature, which is the case with roots early 
in the season, require an addidon of more solid food, such as meal 
or good clover chaff, otherwise the milk, although considerable in 
quantity, will be poor and wheyey, yielding no cream. Such roots 
should be carefully selected as have no symptoms of decay, and 
should be mild in flavor, or the butter will be tainted. In very cold 
weather, and as a change of food, use oil-cake and ground oats,, 



\ 



62 THE MANAGEMENT OF COWS. 



steamed or boiled. The best roots are carrots, yellow turnips and 
mangold-wurzel, succeeding each other. 

The cow and the horse can well pasture together, but no other 
animal should be allowed in the same field, pigs and poultry spoil- 
ing and tainting the feed. The pasture must be kept clean from 
weeds and all refuse matter. It must be supplied with an abundance 
of pure water and be free from all standing water. Cows should 
be taken in about sunset, or before they are preparing to rest for the 
the night, and should not be hurried to or from pasture, especially 
when full of milk. Experiments have proved it is better cows 
should not remain out all night, after August at least, but be stabled 
in an open, airy shed. 

Cows should always in winter be well fed, regularly fed, and with 
sufficient food of the right kind. Regular currying is of the great- 
est utility, as it keeps the pores open and promotes the circulation. 
Feed twice a day as much as they will eat of timothy and clover 
hay mixed, with two quarts of Indian meal unbolted, four quarts of 
wheat bran, and half a peck or a peck of carrots or sugar-beets, to 
each. Turnips may be fed to dry cows, but for milking cows they give 
a taste to the milk and butter. Corn-fodder is excellent as an addi- 
tion, but if fed by itself will give an unpleasant taste to both milk 
and butter. Steamed or cooked food is now much used, and to 
great advantage, but we doubt if it pays where but few are kept ; 
cows will eagerly drink the hay-tea that is left after steaming the 
hay. Potatoes, raw or cooked, are excellent food, and thus the 
small ones come into play. In summer-time or early fall, if the 
pasture is short, fresh corn-fodder helps the milking-qualities won- 
derfully, and we are glad to see it is much more raised than for- 
merly. The earlier it is grown and the earlier it is fed, the more it 
will help the milking-qualides. A piece of rock-salt should always 
be where the cows can find it. 

THE MANAGEMENT OF THE COW. 

The proper management of milking cows is no less important 
than proper food. 

It should always be borne in mind that the animal whose capa- 
bilities are for milking becomes lean on the same quantity of food 
as will make the feeding cattle fat. The consequence of this is that 
the milking (and therefore lean) cow is more affected by changes 
of temperature than the feeding or fat one. Therefore, for success- 
fully maintaining her in profit care should be taken to avoid rapid 
and considerable changes of temperature, as well as damp or clay 
land. There should always be a clean, dry shed in which the cattle 



THE ART OF MILKING. 63 

may take shelter whenever they feel uncomfortable either from heat 
and flies or cold and damp. This shed should be well drained and 
opening to a warm aspect. 

An animal always cold is always uncomfortable, and a large pro- 
portion of the food she takes is consumed in keeping up the heat 
of the body instead of making milk ; warmth is therefore food to 
the cow, and may be obtained with little cost and less trouble than 
some other food. Cold and sudden chills are a great detriment to 
the appearance of the cow, and are frequently the cause of her 
falHng off in her milk so early in the season. So it is in turning 
cows out too early in the season ; much injury is done by exchang- 
ing them from a warm yard or shed to pass the night in the open 
air before the season is sufficiently advanced. 

In proportion as the breed of cattle has improved, so has the ne- 
cessity of care increased. It is a question of economy whether 
it is not best to bring cows in at night all through the year, for they 
spoil much grass, and are not benefited by being in the dewy grass 
too early in the morning ; and the manure would be in the yard, 
where it is valuable, instead of under the fences, where the cattle 
would naturally lie for protection. 

Perfect cleanliness in every part of the cow-house is of essential 
importance ; the stalls should be kept clean, the walls free from 
cobwebs and dust, and the mangers clean also. Much of the ben- 
efit of good food is lost by giving it badly prepared or in uncleanly 
boxes. The importance of ventilation is very great, but its benefits 
will be in a measure lost if the interior of the house is not kept 
clean. Another point to be attended to is the bedding and littering 
of cows ; in many cases this is grossly neglected, the animals being 
kept in a very uncomfortable condition. The long straw as gene- 
rally used is not economical ; it is most efficient if cut with the 
straw-cutter. Less straw is required in this form than if used long, 
and it not only admits of the droppings being lifted easily away 
without disturbing the rest of the bedding, but it is in the best con- 
dition for the manure-heap. Sawdust also forms an excellent bed- 
ding, as do chaff, leaves, etc. 

THE ART OF MILKING. 

Another matter to be attended to, to keep the cow in profit, is to 
see that she is milked properly. As a general principle, cows 
should be milked twice a day, and the time should be regular, say 
at six in the morning and six in the evening' all the year round. If 
after calving, in the early state of milk, it should be found that the 
bag becomes too full from extreme heat or other cause, it will be 



/ 



64 POINTS IN COWS. 



advisable to reduce the bag in the middle of the day ; but some 
judgment is necessary in putting this into practice, as too great 
eagerness in relieving the bag may have an injurious effect by 
weakening the power of retention. Before and during the time of 
milking the cow should have some good hay or meal. It is bene- 
ficial in two ways : it is a wholesome stay to the stomach ; it en- 
grosses the attention of the animal and keeps it quiet during the 
operation ; it helps to sustain the stomach of a large yielder, 
drained by the flow of milk, and needing extra sustenance for the 
growth of the unborn calf. This should be done even during pas- 
ture-time, say a quart of good bran at each milking ; and if fed to 
them under a shed in the field, where they could be fastened in 
stanchions, it saves all necessity for driving the cows, it keeps them 
quiet, and saves the time and temper of the milkers in fly-time, and 
surely increases the yield and easy flow. 

The hands should be dry and clean ; wet hands chap the teats 
in cold weather, and want of cleanliness produces warts. The last 
milk withdrawn is richer for the production of butter — one pint 
than two quarts of milk first drawn off. Imperfect milking will 
also dry the cow much earlier than if properly milked, and tend to 
decrease the quantity. A few days prior to calving, should the 
bag be much distended, it should be thoroughly relieved. 

Whatever may be the cause of the restlessness of the cow during 
milking, gentleness is the only treatment that should be allowed. A 
young animal never forgets ill-treatment, and will withhold her milk. 

We have thus endeavored to gather the experience of those who 
have made the nature and management of cows a lifelong study ; 
and if we have presented nothing new to experienced farmers, 
our object will be gained if they will only put into practice what 
they know already, and not treat cows with indifferent care, and 
expect the same rich returns from their investment as if they were 
properly cared for. Remember that all nature is alike, subject to 
the same natural laws, and none of these can be violated without 
paying a penalty. Get a good cow of the best breed for your pur- 
pose ; not only select it with care, but keep it in good condition for 
profit, and in the long run it will pay you better than if neglected. 
We have a subject not only of great interest to all of us, but as 
much might be properly said upon each one of the topics treated 
as has been said upon them all combined. 

POINTS IN cows. 

Points in stock are the badges of purity. What are known as 
"points" are certain conformations, outlines of shapes and marks 



POINTS IN COWS. 65 



of color which specify that the animal possessing them is truly and 
distinctly a member of the class demanding the specifications pos- 
sessed. The average farmer gives but little attention to the finer 
points, but witlvhis experience and habit of association judges very 
critically at times. While farmers are seemingly anxious to improve, 
they endeavor to do so without knowing in which direction to ben- 
efit themselves. Nearly every farmer claims to be an expert at se-. 
lecting milch cows, yet in breeding his stock he does not consider 
first what he is to breed for. Does he stop to consider whether he 
wishes the offspring of his favorite cow to be a superior milker or 
a great butter-producer ? The influence of the sire is to be consid- 
ered above all others in such a matter. Jersey bulls are scattered 
far and wide now, and are within the reach of all, and yet the 
dairyman who sends his milk to market, and cares not to make 
butter, is foolish in patronizing Jersey bulls. The Jerseys are for 
butter-producing only, and are not heavy milkers. The milk such 
cows give is very rich ; it is almost pure cream ; but it does not 
come up in quantity. The farmer who desires large yields of milk 
from cows should seek to have transmitted to his young stock the 
blood of the Holstein or Ayrshire ; for, although the milk from 
cows of these breeds is not as rich in quantity as that from the 
Jerseys or Guernseys, it greatly excels them in quality. Thus, 
those farmers living within reach of cheese-factories can best pro- 
mote their interests by selecting Holsteins or Ayrshires for improv- 
ing their stock, while those who send butter to market should have 
nothing but the butter-producers. 

A great milker shows her qualities in her looks and make-up. 
The eyes and hair also give good indications. The first point 
for a farmer's observation , and the principal one, is to observe that 
she does not show a tendency to become "beefy" or rounding, with 
points that denote good fattening qualities. A first-class cow does 
not get fat as a rule, but is rather bony and ugly-looking. The 
shape of the Jersey should be deer-like, with a large, mild-looking 
eye and soft feeling of hide to the touch. The udder should be 
full, reaching far up at the rear. One of the most prominent points 
is the large milk-ducts (sometimes as large as a person's arm) run- 
ning from the udder to the middle of the stomach. They are sure 
indications of good milking-qualities. Jerseys have black nozzles 
and tongues, the udder being usually smoother than in other breeds, 
and velvet-like when examined by touch. The Holsteins are a 
very large breed of cows, equalling the Shorthorns in size, but 
largely excelling them in milking-qualities. The young male 
calves from such cows can be kept with profit, as the Holsteins, 
5 



66 STALL-FEEDING CATTLE. 

when fed for the purpose, make not only go®d beef, but equal to 
the best. Oxen from this stock are nearly equal to the Devons. 
Their color is usually black and white. 

But in endeavoring to breed for milk it should not be forgotten 
that all the excellent characteristics are rarely found in a single 
breed. Thus we must not expect to find good milkers among the 
Shorthorns, nor have choice beef from the milch cows. A cow 
cannot make milk and beef at the same time. If her tendencies 
are toward milk, she will be hard to fatten ; if she keeps extra fat, 
it means that she is a better flesh-former than milk-producer. A 
great deal depends on the feed, as a matter of course, but the 
breed must first be taken into consideration if an increase in the 
herd is contemplated. 

Now, no matter in how many points the farmer's experience and 
judgment may serve him, there are some animals that will fail in 
their milk when pregnant, and it is exceedingly difficult to distin- 
guish them. They are generally the plumpest, roundest and most 
attractive-looking cows, and should be avoided, because they are 
not profitable. By the marks on them which Guenon has pointed 
out they may be avoided. It is rather difficult to describe these 
points without the engravings, but they will be found delineated 
and described in //ow to Select Cows, sent by mail by the pub- 
lisher of this volume upon receipt of fifty cents. 



STALL-FEEDING CATTLE. 



Breeders differ on this important subject. A good way is to 
give turnips in the morning, followed by hay, chopped stuff, at 
noon ; then some hay again ; turnips in the evening, followed by 
hay to last through the night. Exercise a litde daily, affording the 
animals an opportunity to drink when out for exercise. In the 
Ontario Agricultural College at Guelph, Canada, the following is 
the time-table adopted for feeding stalled cattle in order to fatten as 
rapidly as possible : 7 A. m., turnips and hay ; 8.30 A. M., meal and 
bran; 11.30 a.m., turnips and hay; 1.30 P. M,, meal and bran; 
4 P. M., turnips and hay; 8 p.m.,. meal and bran. Exercise for 
about twenty minutes daily, and water, though they rarely drink 
when fid turnips three times daily. The average quantity of food 
given is as follows : sixty pounds turnips, twelve pounds hay, twelve 
pounds grain, and three of bran. 



HORSE POINTS. 6f 



HORSE POINTS. 

It is action in the horse that sells. This is obtained when we 
have the complemental power in the muscle, the greatest leverage 
from the bones and quality in the tendons, health in the ligaments, 
and truth in the disposition of the limbs. We adjudicate on the 
horse's hind quarters as a whole. All horses with any pretensions 
to quality or family possess length and straightness from the hip to 
the tail. This is especially graceful and horizontal in the thorough- 
bred. 

1. Length from hip to hock is the criterion both of speed and 
power. All horses of value are "well let down " in their quarters, 
affording increase of length and volume in the muscles, power and 
speed accruing. The haunch-bone and thigh-bone — the first strong 
and long, the second strong, of average length. This naturally 
varies with breed, but in all classes it is most important that the 
thigh "be well let down into the hock." Muscular development 
here cannot be too "immense." Good gaskins afford material help 
for getting through the dirt. 

2. At the articulation of the haunch and thigh-bone we find the 
stifle m situ. A good one, without exception, is high up, abutting 
the flank. This is the concentration of power in all classes ; it is a 
certain sign that the haunch-bone is well sloped forward, and that 
the thigh-bone is well carried back. 

3. The hock we have previously determined on, but as to the 
fore legs I counsel young beginners to avoid weak, ill-defined 
knees. So also have as little to do with horses whose os calcis, or 
point of the hock, is ill defined. Remember puff and gum are 
weakness. The os calcis contributes leverage ; it is evidence both 
of power and speed. 

The hind cannons, or metatarsal bones, must individually be 
straight, with just a soupt^on of inclination forward. They should 
be flat and short. Breadth under the hock here is strength, the 
sign of quality. Feel tendons along their course, that the legs, as 
in the fore, are clean in the tendons (broad and flat) ; the sesa- 
moid bones, at the upper portion of the fetlock-joints, well pro- 
nounced. 

How should I feed oats to my horses ? 

Boiled oats are best for very young or very old horses, on ac^ 
count of their immature or defective teeth ; but for mature horses 
at hard work feed dry oats. Soft feed induces perspiration. 



68 



HORSE POINTS. 



BLANKETING. 

Should I cover my horse at once when I bring him into the stable in 
a heated condition, or let him cool down before I put on the blanket ? 

Do neither. A half hour before your arrival at the stable work 
him slowly, and let him cool down on the road. But if he does 
arrive in a heated condition, throw an old blanket over him and 
walk him till he cools down. Then rub him down till very dry, 
and when quite cool put on his blanket, and water and feed him. 

WORMS. 

A horse troubled with worms will become very thin, no matter 
how well fed — will have a desire to rub his tail on everything pos- 
sible, and dung after, a httle at a time. So get rid of them, and 
improve the condition of the animal. Prepare by giving a drachm 
dose of tartar emetic morning and night in bran mash. Give 
neither hay nor oats for three days ; at the end of that time ad- 
minister one quart of raw linseed oil and two ounces of spirits of 
turpentine, mixed. Give the dose on an empty stomach, and ex- 
ercise that day and the following morning ; after which purgation 
will ensue ; after which feed as usual. 

INTERFERING. 

This is best treated by getting the animal into a healthy condi- 
tion, as the trouble in very many cases is due to weakness of the 
system ; at the same time proper shoeing should be attended to. 

HEAVES. 

What is the best treatment for heaves ? 

It is rarely cured, but with care may be greatly relieved. The 
food should be carefully regulated, so that the horse is not allowed 
to engorge himself either with hay or straw. The hay should be 
clean and free from dust. At the same time procure half a dozen 
powders from your druggist, each composed of powdered opium 
one drachm, and acetate of lead half a drachm ; one powder to 
be given daily in his feed, or, if he refuse to eat the powders, ad- 
minister in a little water. 

Proper Ages of Reproduclion (1), Length of Power of Reprodvction (2), and Periods of 
Gestation (3) in Domestic Animals. 









3. 










3. 






1. 


2. 


Short- 




Long- , 




1. 


2. 


Short- 




Long- 








est. 




est. 1 








est. 




est. 




Yrs. 


Years. 


Days. 


Dav8. 


Days. 


1 
1 


Years. 


Years. 


Days. 


Daya. 


Days. 


Horse 




12 to 15 








JacKass.. 




12 to 15 








Mare 


4 


10 tn lu 


287 


347 


419 


Ass 


4 


10 to I-.' 


3fi5 


380 


391 


Cow 


3 


10 


240 


283 


321 


jGoat 


2 


5 to 6 


150 


156 


163 


Bull 




5 








'siut 


2 


8 to 9 


55 


60 


63 


Sow 


1 


6 


109 


115 


143 


Dog 




8 to 9 








Boar 




6 








|Cat 


1 


9 to 10 








Bwe ...... 


2 


6 


14« 


154: 


161 


1 " female 




5 to 6 


48 


60 


58 


Ram 




7 








1 













WINTERING OF BEES. 69 



THE WINTERING OF BEES. 

By D. a. Jones, Beeton, Canada, 
One of the most Successful and Advanced Bee-keepers in the World. 

WINTERING IN BEE-HOUSE. 

To do this successfully, the house should be so constructed that 
the outdoor temperature cannot affect that of the bee-house ; and in 
order to accomplish this its walls should be packed tightly with two 
feet of dry sawdust or three feet of chaff — packing overhead same 
thickness, and the bottom so protected that no frost can penetrate. 
Next, it should have a ventilating tube at the top of not less than 
one square inch to each colony of bees. It should have sub-earth 
ventilation by means of a tube laid below the depth frost will pen- 
etrate, and from one to three hundred feet in length, coming in con- 
tact with outside atmosphere at the other end ; as air passes through 
this it is tempered by distance, and comes into the house at an equal 
temperature. By means of slides at these ventilators the temper- 
ature can be arranged in the bee-house, which should stand from 
42° to 45°, and in no case should it fall lower than 40°. Now, if a 
bee-house is constructed in this way, it will not change its temper- 
ature more than from 1° to 3° during the winter, and can be reg- 
ulated, as before stated, by means of ventilating slides. 

Preparation for. — All this must be done in the fall. They should 
be strong in bees, plenty of young, and should be crowded up to 
have no more comb than they can cover, and their combs well 
stored with pollen and honey (say twenty to thirty pounds of the 
latter). If you have not this quantity of honey, feed granulated 
sugar and water (two pounds of the former to one pound of the 
latter), brought to a boil before feeding. This makes a good and 
even better feed than the best of honey, and should be fed in time 
for bees to seal it over. Commence feeding immediately after first 
frost has killed the flowers. No glucose should ever be fed. Winter 
passages should be made through combs, and allow space of half 
an inch between combs. The last sunshiny days in fall remove the 
hd and cloth from hives, and allow the sun to shine in. This puri- 
fies and dries them ; then put on a cloth free from propolis ; that 
same evening carry bees carefully into the house, placing them on 
a bench ten to twelve inches from the floor or ground ; this keeps 
bees out of the carbonic acid gas, which sinks to the lowest part of 
the bee-house, and is given off by the bees in the hive. The lids 
should be removed, and only cloth or cushion of chaff or sawdust 
allowed to remain on hive. 



70 WlNTERir^G OF BEEiS. 



When one row has been placed two to six inches apart on benches, 
put strips one to two inches wide on rear and front of hive, and upon 
this place another row, having upper row in such a way as to have 
space between the hives in the second row over the centre of hives 
in first row, thus allowing moisture to escape ; and so on, taking 
care to have stronger stocks in first row ; leave entrance wide open. 

Two thermonieters should be placed in each home — one opposite 
bottom row and another opposite the top, the former indicating 
42° and the latter 45°. 

Keep house perfectly dark, and let them alone until you set them 
out in spring, unless they show signs of dysentery by soiling the en- 
trance of their hive, in which case take them out quietly on the first 
favorable day and give them a fly. Have tight-fitting triple doors, 
making two dead air-spaces. 

WINTERING IN CELLAR. 

The same preparation in the fall and management throughout 
the winter are necessary here as in the bee-house. Place them at 
least two feet from cellar-bottom, temperature same as bee-house. 

Do not allow any decaying vegetables in the cellar with the bees. 
If they show signs of dysentery and the weather is fine, give them 
a flight, being sure to always put them on the same stand again after 
first flight. Never leave them out over night, but put them back in 
the cellar after they return from their flight. Set out of bee-house 
and cellar the first favorable weather when pollen appears. 

WINTERING IN CLAMPS. 

Prepare the colonies the same as before. Make a platform six 
inches above the ground, and wide enough to have from ten to 
twelve inches of space in front of the hive, twelve to fifteen inches 
at rear of hive, and platform long enough to hold all your hives. 
After placing them four to six inches apart, if there is any space in 
rear of division board, pack it with dry sawdust or chaff; remove 
the lids and put clean cloths on the frames, or, if a box hive, bore 
half a dozen inch holes in the top of the hive, and these, coven d 
with cloth, allow moisture to pass up into the packing above. Plaf 
a stick half an inch thick each side of the entrance, long enough V(> 
reach the edge of the platform ; upon these lay a board. By means 
of this there will be a communication with the outside at ail times ; 
then drive stakes at the front and rear of platform ; set up boards 
all around this platform inside the stakes of sufficient height to allov/ 
packing eighteen inches above the hive ; pack firmly witli dry saw- 
dust or chaff around and between the hives and about eighteen 
inches on top ; then lay boards on the top of the packing ; upon 



MANAGEMENT OF- BEES. ' /I 



these place stones or other heavy weights (one hundred pounds on 
each hive is not too much). This will pack firmly, and prevent 
heat from passing up through it from the inside of the hive, and yet 
allow moisture to escape. The packing should not be removed until 
about fruit-blossom, except slightly to examine condition of colonies. 
This clamp should be banked outside sufficiently to prevent frost 
from getting under; if sawdust were packed under the clamp it 
would be better. A slanting roof keeps off rain and thawing snow. 

BOX WINTERING. 

Where parties have only a few colonies, old dry-goods boxes may 
be taken, the bees placed in them and packed in a similar manner 
to a clamp ; but there should always be six inches of dry packing 
under the hive, preventing frost from below. Take care to make the 
entrance perfect, thus enabling them to have access to the outside. 

WINTERING IN CHAFF OR SAWDUST HIVE. 

These hives are intended to winter safely without any outside 
packing, only requiring the same preparation as those for the bee- 
house — viz. strong in bees, plenty of young bees, plenty of stores 
(if not sufficient, feed) ; crowd up on few combs ; cut passage in 
comb, the combs half inch apart, and fill up the space in rear of 
division board with dry sawdust or chaff, filling the space between 
the combs and the hd with the large cushion. 



MANAGEMENT OF BEES. 

In judging of weight you must remember that old comb weighs 
more than new, and allow several pounds more for old colonies 
than for those which have been put into the hive this season. Never 
allow less than twenty pounds to a colony, even when intending to 
winter indoors ; when left outside, thirty pounds is none too much to 
give them. If a cold, backward spring succeeds a hard winter, the 
extra amount may save the colony ; and if it is left over, it will not 
be wasted, but the bees will raise more brood and store in boxes 
earlier. If you find weak colonies, mark their hives, so that you 
will remember them, and after flowers are gone two or more may 
be united and form good colonies. 

If the season is favorable and swarms come early, they may be 
robbed on or about the ist of July. If the season is not good, pres- 
ent year swarms should not be robbed. Older swarms may be 
robbed about the same time, but not later. 



The leading feature in the natural history of bees, and one which 
distinguishes them from almost all other insects, is their singular 



72 MANA^GEMENT OF BEES. 

distribution into three dift'erent kinds, constituting, to all appear- 
ance, so many different modifications of sex. The drone (fig. i), 
which is characterized by a thicker body, a round head, a more 
flattened shape, and more obtusely terminated abdomen, within 
which are contained the male organs of generation, is undoubtedly 




Fig. I. — Drone. Fig. a. — Queen. Fig. 3. — Worker. 

the male of the species. It is distinguished also by the absence of 
a sting, and by the humming noise that accompanies its flight. 
The queen-bee (fig. 2), which is unequivocally recognized as the 
female, is larger than any of the others, has the abdomen of great- 
er length, and is provided with a sting and two ovaria of consider- 
able size. The worker-bees (fig. 3) compose the third class, and 
are distinguished by the smallness of their size, their lengthened 
proboscis, the peculiar structure of their legs and thighs, which are 
adapted to the collection of certain materials obtained from vege- 
tables, and by the apparent absence of every trace of generative 
organs. We say apparent, because rudiments of ovaria do exist, 
which, however, are not perceptible without a very minute and 
careful dissection. Till recently the worker-bees were regarded as 
devoid of sex, and were accordingly termed neuters. It is their 
function to perform all the laborious offices for the community, to 
construct the interior of their habitation, to explore the country in 
search of nourishment and other materials, to collect and bring 
them to the hive and apply them to different purposes, to attend 
upon the queen and supply all her wants, to defend the hive from 
the attacks of depredators, and to carry on hostilities against the 
various enemies of the tribe. The life of the queen is chiefly en- 
grossed with the duties of laying eggs. The drones, producing 
neither wax nor honey, and depending on the rest for their sub- 
sistence, are idle spectators of the others' labors. They appear 
to be formed only for the momentary but important duty of im- 
pregnation, since they perish when this purpose is accomplished. 
There is commonly only one perfect queen existing at a time within 
e.n.h hive, and she usually appears to be treated by all the other 
bees with every mark of affection and of deference. 



BUILDINGS. 73 



NOTES AND SUGGESTIONS. 



The farmer's most valuable crop is a crop of ideas. Cultivators 
of the soil are every year realizing the advantages of gathering from 
books the views of scientific men and a knowledge of the practices 
of other farmers, that they may, by comparing them with their own, 
improve their theories and their systems of farming. No farmer can 
afford to neglect agricultural reading. The exigencies of the time 
make new crops profitable ; they introduce new notions, open new 
markets, and give us new views upon agricultural as well as upon 
pohtical and humanitarian subjects. The following will, therefore, 
prove invaluable to the careful farmer. Most of these notes and 
suggestions having been contributed by those who have fully tested 
their value, they embody the result of years of study, experience 
and trial. 

Buildings. — Keep everything neat and tidy within and about the 
i)uildings ; tools, tools, chains, etc. left out may be covered up in 
l1i?. snow or mud and easily lost. 

— Clear roofs from too heavy snow, stop leaks, keep eaves- 
ti ougus free, paint where needed, fasten loose board =;. keep manure 
away from sills, oil rusty hinges, see that fastenings are in order 
and all repairs promptly made. Get out timber for sheds sufficient 
to shelter all stock. Study economy and convenience in plans. 

— Paint in cool, damp weather, so that the oil will remain on the 
surface, and not be absorbed by the dry and porous wood. When 
buildings settle unevenly, let them be levelled up at once, as stand- 
ing on an uneven foundation strains every part and breaks the nails 
and cracks the walls. 

— Put every building in order for winter. Loose shingles and 
boards should be nailed ; the large cracks between ridge-boards 
need closing up with long nails ; and the siding should sometimes 
be taken off, jointed and replaced, to exclude snow and keep rain 
from rotting the timbers. Wherever the ground descends toward 
the foundation walls a few loads of earth should be hauled in, to 
turn the surface water off before the ground freezes, as the expan- 
sion of the earth will often crowd walls inward after freezing a few 
times. If the ground descends from the wall, the water will be 
carried away, and the expansion will be less forcible against the 
wall. Make a little mortar and stop all crevices, not only in the 
walls, but between the sills and foundation, to exclude cold air from 
the apartments of animals. 



p'4 BUILDINGS AND FENCES. 

Barns. — Clean out thoroughly during rainy weather, Begin at 
the top and sweep down all spider-webs, chaff and mouse-htter 
from the beams and girders. Turn over loose boards on the ground 
floors, and brush out wire-worms, sowbugs, centipedes and all 
other insects that exist there and in cracks. Where there are 
large cracks in the upper sides of beams, fill them with coal tar, 
and then scatter clean sand over them, so that it will settle into the 
tar. This preserves the timber and also repels insects. 

— Where a small quantity of hay or straw remains in the bottom of 
the mow, pitch it up aloft, where it may be used in the former part of 
the foddering season. Remove manure wherever it is in contact wkh 
wood-work, and see that driving storms do not wet the frame tim- 
bers. Clean and paint eaves-troughs, and remove limbs of trees 
within a yard of the sides or roofs of buildings. 

Barnyard. — Turn all water from the roofs of buildings or other 
sources away from the barnyard. If the ground be wet, make a 
good under-drain entirely around, and excavate the middle, pud- 
dling it with clay protected by cobble-stones, so as to retain all the 
liquid manure. 

— Before the ground freezes scrape all the fine manure into heaps 
and haul it to meadows or pastures for a top-dressing. It will act 
as a mulch to the grass roots. Clean out all surface ditches near the 
yards, and cut shallow channels where they are needed, to prevent 
surface water from flowing into any part of the yard. Remove all 
stones and sticks liable to be covered with manure and hinder 
pitching. 

Stables. — As the warm weather comes on see that stables are 
thoroughly cleaned out and well littered and ventilated, but horses 
should not be exposed to cold air-currents, especially at night. 

Cellars. — Do not neglect to clean them out thoroughly, removing 
all decaying vegetables, wood, etc. Where cabbages or potatoes 
have lain and decayed in part, it is well to sprinkle dry ashes or 
fresh loam, removing it after a day or two. Whitewash every part 
except the floor, which may well be sprinkled with lime. 

Fencing'. — Poor fences make bad neighbors. 

— Ply the bush-hook to hedges and keep down the brush ; let 
no weeds go to seed. 

— November is a good season for cleaning up fence rows. Take 
the fence up altogether. If you need a fence, set it up again a rod 
away, with the tops of the post on the ground and the butts in the 
air (supposing it to be a post-and-rail fence), supporting the butts 
by forked stakes. This leaves all clear, and the old ivy-grown, 
briery, weedy, stony strip can be grubbed and plowed and cleaned 



MACHINES.— IMfLEMfeNTS. 75 



up, sowed to grass and the fence replaced. It is no great job, 
and if forty rods could be treated in this way every year, it would 
soon make a difference in the looks of most farms that would be 
much for the better, and increase their value. 

Machmes.—V)^c\^<^ at once what kind of machines and imple- 
ments will be needed the present season. Reapers and mowers, 
threshing-machines, cider and wine mills, should be ordered in 
time, so that there need be no delay. A long time often elapses 
after such machines are ordered before they can be forwarded. It 
is far better to receive them before they are needed than to be 
obliged to wait for them. See that every laborer has a good tool. 
A man who attempts to work with a poor implement will, in a short 
time, expend time and strength enough to purchase a new one. 

— Get in your orders for mowers and all heavy implements early, 
so as to be well and promptly served ; and delay no needed repairs. 

— Purchase no new kinds but those that have been well tested. 
Look out for such as will require the least force to work them. If 
possible, procure those made near home, that in case of a break- 
down they may be repaired at the least expense. If a wheel of a 
reaper or mower were to break, and one were obhged to send four 
or five hundred miles to the factory for a new one, he would prob- 
ably sustain much loss before it could be put in running order again. 

— During rainy and leisure days examine mowers and reapers to 
see if they are in running order. Take them apart ; remove gum 
and dirt from the journals and boxes; oil afresh, and screw up all 
nuts and tighten loose rivets. The efficiency of tools and imple- 
ments depends almost altogether on their condition. 

Implements a7id T^^A.— Begin in good time to procure new tools 
and implements of husbandry. 

— Have all in repair and readiness for spring work. In the end, 
buying is cheaper than borrowing. Consult advertisements, send 
for catalogues and circulars for information about new implements, 
and always get the best. 

Implements.— \i there is no room in the sheds for implements, 
pack them together and improvise a roof of boards tacked together; 
by no means leave them exposed to the weather to be rotted. 

Tools.— Y.^^^ all implements under cover or in the shade during 
hot weather. The sun warps and cracks the woodwork of scythe 
snaths, rakes and forks, and when they are covered with dew a 
thin scale of rust is soon formed on the bright surfaces of iron and 
steel, all of which injure them more than ordinary use ; alternate 
rain and sunshine will often straighten bent pieces of wood. 

Rakes, — Do you own a horse rake ? If not, it is time to procure 



76 PREPARATION OF THE LAND. 

one for raking hay and grain stubble. As a horse rake is used 
only a few days in a year, it will be a matter of economy to em- 
ploy a pair of light buggy or carriage-wheels for carrying the rake, 
and the axle arms may be ordered to fit such as you have. By 
procuring a good wheel rake, a lame man or an active young 
woman can do all the raking. 

Tedders. — When a farmer has much hay to make, it v/ill pay to 
procure a tedder and keep it in constant operation until the hay is 
fit to rake. Grass will cure much faster when it is flying through 
the air than when it remains on the ground. ^ 

Draining. — Before the soil is fit to plow let it be examined for 
the purpose of ascertaining whether or not some portions of it may 
not be drained very advantageously where it is excessively wet. 
Let wet portions of a field be staked out and drains cut for tile, 
stone or wood. During the month of March a long line of under- 
drain may be made before the soil is fit to plow, if the proprietor 
only has energy enough to lay out the work and commence it at 
once. If it be delayed until the soil is fit to be plowed, and other 
work begun, the draining will not be done. 

— Examine under-drains all over the farm in wet weather, and 
see that surface water does not work in and displace the tiles or 
fill the channels with earth. Shovel away all sediment at the outlets, 
so that the water will flow out freely. A half day's work cleaning 
out ditches and surface-water channels may be very profitably laid 
out on every farm. 

Ditching. — Should the season continue dry, ditching in the 
swamps is in order. In muck swamps dig the main ditches deeper 
and broader than necessary, say two or three feet wide at the bot- 
tom, and eight or ten at the top, and throw out the muck on one 
side to lie and freeze until spring, while the tussocks and sods 
are thrown by themselves, to be burned next summer when thor- 
oughly dry. 

Improvement. — This should be the watchword of farmers during 
the entire year. Improve the fertility of the soil by a better system 
of management, and by making more manure. Improve stock by 
disposing of inferior animals, substituting better ones ; and improve 
the man himself by reading good agricultural papers, and in every 
way gaining and communicating useful knowledge. 

— As soon as the frost is out and the ground is settled, it is well 
to go over the land and pick off the stones that have been heaved 
up. On much land the grain is benefited by rolling, especially 
when it has been thrown out by the frost. On other soils this is 
injurious. Top-dressings of ashes, ashes and plaster, superphosphate, 



IMPROVEMENTS. // 



guano, ammoniacal salts or similar substances which can be sowed by 
hand, usually produce good results, especially if the grain is winter- 
killed in spots or does not look thrifty. Coarse weeds may often 
be pulled easily or cut up with a "spud" in April, 

— Keep fences in good repair around your grain-field, and con- 
fine turkeys and all other fowls that persist in going on it, as they 
will break down and destroy more than they are worth. 

Burning Brush and Rubbish. — Where this has been cut along 
the fences on the road, or between fields late in the summer, and is 
now dry, burn it and spread the ashes on grass land. It only har- 
bors vermin, mice, rabbits and insects. 

Roads and Paths. — If every one does his full share (and a little 
more) toward breaking roads and making paths about the neighbor- 
hood, general comfort will be enhanced. 

— Level down the sides of the beaten track of the highway. In 
many localities the sides of the highway are mowed, and the grass 
yields a good burden of hay. Where the earth is liable to be 
washed away during heavy showers sow Kentucky blue-grass or 
red top and form a sod, so that transient streams of water will 
not wash gullies in it. 

Roofs. — Examine roofs of out-buildings when it rains. Leaky 
places will usually be found where a shingle has been split directly 
over a joint of the next course below. In such a case another 
shingle may be driven beneath the split one. 

Weeds. — Wage an unceasing warfare against weeds and bushes. 
It injures Canada thistles, ox-eye daisies and other perennials ma- 
terially to cut them close to the ground just before they blossom. 

— Rally all the available force of the farm, and with sharp hoes 
cut all the bull-thistles, teasels, mullein and other biennial plants 
that will mature the seeds the coming season. Cut them about two 
inches below the surface of the soil ; the surface water will stand in 
the little excavations and enter the roots and destroy them. 

— In many pastures large bull-thistles cover nearly one half the 
ground. They should be mowed, not only to allow the grass to 
grow, but to prevent the seed blowing over the country. 

Stones. — Both large and small ones may be hauled off the field 
as soon as thawed loose, before the soil has become soft. If the 
ground is soft, pry up the large stones on meadows and place billets 
of wood or small stones beneath them, so that they may be hauled 
off as soon as snow has fallen or the ground will bear up a team. 
Remove brush, logs and other rubbish from fields, if likely to be in 
the way of the plow. 

Yards. — Grade and drain barn and stable yards for winter. 



78 TILLAGE OPERATIONS. 

Level up low places by hauling in hard and heavy earth in time to 
allow it to settle before heavy rains in autumn. Where the surface 
is uneven, plow down the knolls and ridges and make the surface 
quite level and smooth in the summer. 

Fallows. — Rather than allow a good soil to lie exposed to the burn- 
ing sun for several months, sow three or bushels of Indian corn per 
acre. In six weeks there will be a good burden of green manure to 
plow under. Fallowing good land tends to impoverish it. 

Plowing. — Never plow heavy soils when wet, because as soon 
as the surplus water has settled away they will be as compact as 
before. . Plow dry portions of a field first, and aim to plow heavy 
soils when they are just moist enough to pulverize well. Never 
plow with dull share or point, and grind every part of the plow 
until the earth will slip off readily. If earth adheres, a plow runs 
harder, holds harder and does its work imperfectly. 

IfTzgation. — Tons of good fertilizing matter are carried off in small 
streams which might be conducted over farms, especially grass 
lands, with great profit. Turr streams of muddy water from the 
highway on fields, so that it will spread over a large surface. Fine 
earth, horse-droppings, etc. washed from the beaten track will in- 
crease the quantity of grass quite as much as a top-dressing of 
manure, and the water, aside from what is suspended or dissolved 
in it, is of great benefit. 

Homing. — The object of hoeing corn and root-crops is not simply 
to keep down the weeds and to draw a little fresh earth about the 
roots, but it is primarily to stir and loosen the surface, that the air 
and rains may have free access to the soil in which the roots are. 
The frequent passage of a light cultivator or horse-hoe is of great 
benefit to crops on land suffering from drouth. 

Rotalicn of Crops. — Raise crops that are best adapted to the soil, 
rather than attempt to adapt the soil to the crops. Every farmer 
should adopt some kind of a rotation, if he has not already done so, 
as this is one of the fundamental principles of scientific agriculture. 

Manure. — Use all diligence to increase the manure and compost 
heaps. 

— Manure is like money. No farmer ever has too much of it 
who appreciates in what his wealth lies. The days of profligate 
waste of manure, even on the prairies, are fast coming to an end. 
Make a tank for liquid manure, to save all that leaks from the 
dung heaps, and all the urine of animals, to be pumped over the 
heaps again, or used in the liquid state diluted with water, being 
applied by the field sprinkler. 

— Spread horse manure over the heap, and never allow it to iieat 



TILLAGE. — MANURE. 79 



and become fire-fanged. Haul manure to distant fields while there 
is sleighing, or before the ground has thawed, when the soil would 
be so wet that it would be injurious to drive over it, and when a 
tean; would be unable to haul off a load. See that the rain from 
the eaves of buildings or from any other source does not wash away 
the soluble portions, the best part of barnyard manure. 

— If possible, spread a good dressing of barnyard manure upon 
corn ground, unless you have a short supply and it is fine enough 
to be applied in the hill. When barnyard manure is hauled to the 
field several weeks previous to being plowed under, put it in close 
heaps to prevent loss by evaporation, and if possible shovel ^ little 
soil over it. Spread no faster than it can be plowed in. Make 
a compost rich in manure, when fine muck can be obtained, for 
manuring Indian corn in the hill. Where dung-heaps leak, devise 
some means for pumping over it the Uquid which leaches from them. 

— Collect barnyard manure into covered quarters, or protect as 
much as practicable from alternate rain and sunshine. 

— Grassy sods, the tops of the roots which cannot be fed out, 
leaves, and wood or swamp mould, and all such things, add both 
bulk and value to the heap. 

— If care be taken, an immense quantity of weed-growth may be 
converted into good manure, either by throwing it in the hog-pens, 
or by making a regular compost of it, putting it in alternate layers 
with any fermenting manure, or piling it up and pumping liquid 
manure over it. Cows brought to the yards nights, and fed an 
armful of grass or green corn each, cut in the morning, and thus 
well wilted, will drop manure enough to pay for the labor over and 
over again, if it be only well collected and composted. 

Lime. — An application of lime will be found useful upon any kind 
of soil at least once in five or six years. It is generally used at this 
season with a fall grain crop. But where lime is employed it will 
be useless to apply superphosphate, as this combines with the lime 
and becomes simple phosphate of lime, which is insoluble. 

— It is well to keep a supply of lime on hand, but not make 
much at a time. It assists greatly in ameliorating stiff clays, in 
composting muck and weeds, etc., and checks the ravages of insects. 

Tanbark.—^\\^rv teams have little to do and laborers are at 
leisure, haul spent tanbark and deposit it in some dry place for 
littering stables next winter. Dry tanbark is an excellent absorbent 
of liquid manure, and it will pay to haul it, as well as sawdust, one 
or two miles. In summer it can usually be obtained readily. In 
autumn it is sometimes scarce. 

Wheat, — Procure in time good seed of spring wheat of the best 



80 CULTIVATED CROPS. 



farmers. Get the last year's wheat lioured in order to have bran 
for feeding. 

— In different locahties one kind appears to succeed better than 
another. Drill in or sow in good season. If sowed early, unless 
the land is very wet, the young phints will root deeper, tiller more, 
and the yield of grain will be larger. 

— In localities where winter wheat will be fit to harvest the 
last of July, see that everything is in readiness before the grain 
is fully ripe. Wheat makes more and better flour if it is cut before 
the heads droop, before the kernels have passed the "dough state." 
Leave an acre or more of the earliest and best to ripen fully for 
seed. Wheat makes better flour to put it in shock as soon as cut, 
rather than to sun it in the swath, as is sometimes practised. In 
lowery weather cover the shocks Avith hay-caps. 

— Where wheat is sown after barley or oats, the land should be 
plowed as early after harvest as possible. If this cannot be done at 
once, harrow the land to break down the stubble and destroy weeds 
and cause the seeds to germinate. The rubbish will act as a mulch 
and keep the ground moist, and it will plow easier than if left un- 
protected to bake in the scorching sun. The fallows must not be 
neglected. Get every thing ready, but do not be in too great a 
hurry to sow. If the land is in good condition, from the 5th to the 
25th of September is the best time. To prevent smut, an effective 
plan is to dissolve, for each bushel of seed wheat, three ounces of 
blue vitriol in one quart of water. When cool sprinkle it over the 
wheat, and turn carefully until every seed is completely moistened. 
Old wheat will require three pints of water to each bushel. The 
seed wheat, after being treated with the vitriol, may be kept for 
days or weeks without injury. Wheat is sometimes treated with 
brine to prevent smut, but we have always thought it rather risky. 

Harrowing Wheat in the fall should only be done when the sur- 
face of the land is dry. No kind of cultivation should take place 
when the ground is wet. Experimental cultivation should be done 
as early as possible. Deep plowing is not needed. To kill weeds 
and mellow the surface are what are wanted. Harrowing may be 
done safely two weeds after sowing, and repeated twice or thrice. 

Wheat and Grass Fertilizer. — Wheat needs nitrogen in October, 
and so does the grass. One hundred pounds per acre of nitrate 
of soda would be a help to both. 

— Make timely calculations to commence harvesting grain before 
it is dead ripe. When it is to be threshed soon after it is cut, stack 
it close to the barn doors, and run the straw into the barn. By this 
means a large amount of fodder can be saved in good order. 



CULTIVATED CROPS. 8 1 



— The sooner grain is thrashed, the more there will be of it. 't 
should, however, be thoroughly dry. Small farmers will improve 
rainy days as they come by thrashing by hand if waiting for the 
thrasher. 

Barley. — If the soil be in a good state, sow as soon as the ground 
will do to plow. If possible, obtain seed free from oats, buck- 
wheat and spring wheat, as all such grain is a nuisance when the 
barley is malted. Always keep the two-ro\yed, four-rowed and six- 
rowed barley separate, because, during the malting process, differ- 
ent kinds will not malt in the same time. 

— Cut before it is dead ripe, and cure with care, as the grain 
will be heavier and brighter, and command a greater price in 
market, and the straw will furnish a great amount of fodder. 

Oats. — Sow as early as practicable. Drill in both ways, using 
half the desired quantity each time. Sow not less than three bush- 
els per acre, with all the hght kernels and foul seeds removed. 

Peas or Peas and Oats. — It is best to plow in the peas, and har- 
row in the oats lightly. Sow before the middle of the month. 
Peas alone may be sown later on good soil. The mixed crop i^i 
satisfactory. 

— Where oats fall down before the panicles are formed, they had 
better be cut at once and cured like hay, as they make excellent 
fodder. Grain does not fructify well after the straw has fallen down. 

Rye. — Sow Spring rye as soon as the soil has settled and is dr)- 
enough to plow. The straw will be needed next fall for binding 
cornstalks, and it is considered better than other straw to cut for 
horses. The grain makes the best kind of meal for teams. 

Buckwheat. — Do not sow more than one bushel per acre. Twen- 
ty-four quarts of good seed are sufficient. Buckwheat may be sowed 
after barley in many localities, and ripen before frost. Sow the 
seed very evenly, and roll the ground where there are any small 
stones or clods, in order to have a smooth surface on which to har- 
vest the grain. 

— This crop, being easily injured, should be cut after the fir-t 
light frost. Low grounds should be cleared first ; upon high grounti 
the crop will not be touched by light frosts, and here it may be leli 
later. The grain shells so easily that it should be harvested earl\ 
in the morning when moist with dew. After lying a few days to 
cure, it should be raked up when it is moist. 

Beans. — Where a hill of Indian corn has failed, plant three hilLs 
of early beans. If rows be far apart, a row of beans is often planted 
between them at the last dressing with a horse-hoe. 

— Field beans may be planted as late as the middle of July 

6 



82 CULTIVATED CROPS. 



where early potatoes have been dug or where Indian corn has 
failed. 

— If wet weather occurs when beans are ready to pull, it is 
necessary to protect them from the rain. This may be done by 
driving stakes in the ground and stacking the beans around them, 
and then covering the top with straw. In pulling beans by hand, 
three or four rows may be thrown together and left loosely, so that 
they will cure. Then, in case of threatened rain, they may be 
quickly gathered into stacks. 

— Dry and shell all that are unripe before freezing, as they will 
make good feed for sheep ; freezing before they are ripe spoils them. 

Co7'n. — The season at the East is early. There is danger of a 
cold May. Have at hand early maturing seed, to plant in 
case that first planted fails. It is poor policy to be in haste 
about planting corn. It comes up much surer, and does better, 
planted after the ground is warm, when hot weather is not far in 
the future. 

— Keep the horse-hoes and cultivators in motion among the 
growing corn. Use a short whiffle-tree when the stalks are so 
large as to break off easily, Straighten up all hills that are not 
disposed to grow erect. Hot weather is the best time to work 
among growing corn. Better pull than to cut large weeds ; Indian 
corn does not need root-pruning. Corn should be cut as soon as it 
is ready. Early corn vv^ill be much more valuable wherf cut green 
than if left to be killed by frost. Frosted corn-fodder will not cure 
well, and is damaged for use. When the grain is well glazed and 
hard on the surface, the crop may be cut. 

Smut i7i Corn. — Smut is poisonous, or at least very inju'ious, and 
care should be taken to prevent it from being eaten with fodder. 
It is becoming very common in corn. It might be v/eli to pass 
through the cornfields with a sharp knife and a basket, and cut off 
all the bunches of smut and smutty ears, and carry them out where 
they may be burned. As one square inch of surface may contain 
four million spores of smut, and every spore is capable of producing 
a smutty plant, it is important to carefully destroy every ball of smut. 

— Every day the corn remains uncut after maturity there is loss. 
Corn gains nothing by standing after the kernels are glazed, »ut the 
fodder loses rapidly in quality. iMuch of its digestible matter is 
changed into woody fibre, becoming hard and undigestible. 

Shocking Corn. — The use of good bands will save much labor 
and loss. Some sheaves of hand-thrashed rye straw, thoroughly 
well wetted, will make tough and strong bands. What is much 
wanted is a permanent . and strong sheaf-band for this purpose. 



CULTIVATED CROPS. S3 



which will last more than one season, and will serve for corn an'i 
other grain. Osier willows may be profitably grown for shcaf-banci: . 
Husk, if possible, while it is still pleasant weather. It is di- 
agreeable work on a raw November day, when fingers get num-j 
and the body chills quickly. 

— Spread all soft ears on a floor in an airy place, where they wi)' 
shortly be dry enough to grind for feed. Save best ears of soun.. 
corn for seed. 

Cor)istalks are no longer to be considered as a waste product, 
good for nothing but to be trodden under foot. They are wortli 
fully the cost of putting in the crop if well saved and cured. When 
cut at the right time, and well cured, six dollars a ton is, by many, 
considered a reasonable estimate of their value for feed when hay 
is worth ten dollars per ton. Careful experiments place well-cured 
cornstalks as worth about three-fifths as much as hay. 

— Let the stalks be thoroughly cured before being stacked. 
Hemp. — Sow on good soil, in drills or broad-cast, one or one and 

a half bushels per acre if broadcast — in drills less. 

Pumpkins. — On under-drained manured land pumpkins do not 
interfere with the corn crops. They do better alone. Probably the 
cheese pumpkin is the most marketable and best. 

Flax. — See that water does not stand at all on any part of the 
field. Pull large weeds while the plants are small. 

Millet. — Where the soil is moderately fertile, sow millet at any 
time previous to the 25th of June. From eight to twelve quarts per 
acre is sufficient unless the seed be large. Millet grows rapidly in 
mellow soil and bears drouth well. 

Sorghum. — When the plants are young they are very tender. 
They need dressing and hoeing with care. Careless men and boys 
Will often retard their growth by cutting off the roots and burying 
the leaves. If the ends of the leaves be covered with earth, the 
growth will be checked. 

Tobacco. — Weed plants in seed beds. Sprinkle with liquid 
manure in showery weather — with pure water in dry weather. 
Plow and harrow the field. 

Roots. — Every farmer ought to raise roots enough to feed his 
horses and neat stock, including calves, from a peck to half a bushel 
a day on an average, and have enough for his sheep besides. Cal- 
culate to get, with good cultivation, 800 to 1000 bushels to the acre. 
Begin in April to prepare the soil, manuring well, plowing deeply. 
Harrow thoroughly. Sow parsnips and carrots in April and mangolds 
in May, rutabagas in June and sweet turnips in June or July. 

— Every animal should be fed a few roots daily. Save a few pf . 



84 ROOT CROPS. 



the best to be planted out for seed. If you have never yet raised 
roots, procure seed and make arrangements for an experiment with 
a crop of them the coming season. 

— Do not fail to raise a few square rods of rutabagas for stock 
next winter. Pulverize the soil thoroughly, manure it well, and 
sow the seed in drills two feet apart as soon as the ground is dry 
enough to work after a good shower. Then a crust of earth will not 
prevent them from coming up. 

— Sort over, remove decayed ones to be cooked and fed imme- 
diately, and keep a supply of the soundest for breeding animals, 
or those failing in appetite, as spring approaches. No decayed 
turnips, rutabagas or cabbages should be fed to milch cows, or bad 
flavor will be imparted to the milk. 

— Root crops must be hoed and thinned out. Most people are 
inclined to leave the plants too thick. 

Root Tops and small roots may be fed to cows and young stock 
quite freely before they heat, which they will do quickly if in heaps. 
It is well to lay them on the north side of some building, where 
they will not become sun-dried, for thus they will be kept much 
longer than in any other way. 

— Feed with care, so as to have some always on hand for animals 
with young, and for a change of diet if an animal gets off its feed. 

Potatoes. — Assort potatoes and feed out the small ones to stock ; 
lay the best aside for seed. 

— Plant early ; use no heating manure. 

— Cultivate thoroughly and hoe well before the tops begin to fall 
over, and sprinkle a handful of wood-ashes around the stems of 
every hill. Never allow careless laborers to strike their hoes into 
the ground near the hills, as roots that would bear tubers may be 
cut off. Potatoes do not need root pruning. If weeds close to the 
hills are too large to be covered with earth, pull them. 

— Finish cultivating and hoeing potatoes as soon as practicable, 
as the roots should not be disturbed after tubers have begun to form. 

Potatoes, by the first week of November, are, or should be, all out of 
theground, except possibly south of Pennsylvania and alongthe coast. 
If the ground freezes, some are inevitably injured by the severe cold. 

Turnips. — The cultivation of turnips and rutabagas consists in 
keeping free from weeds and thinning out to a proper distance. 
One good root at every nine inches is far better than two or three 
poor ones in that space. 

— Turnips will resist considerable frost and grow rapidly in cool 
weather. If standing too thickly in the rows, thin out, using those 
rempved as fodder. If fed to cows, they should be ^iven at milking- 



ROOT CROPS. S5 



time. The flavor will disappear before twelve hours have expired, 
and will not materially affect the milk. 

— Turnips may be left longest before digging, but repeated freez- 
ing makes them pithy and innutritious. 

Mangolds. — This variety of beet is one of the most productive and 
valuable to the farmer as food for stock ; it keeps well until grass. 
Sow in deep mellow land, in rows two feet or two feet six inches 
apart, to be thinned to eight to twelve inches in the rows, according 
to vigor of the plants and strength of soil. 

Beets and Mangolds are protected by their broad leaves from 
frosts which would otherwise injure them so as to cause decay ; but 
as soon as the leaves are wilted the growth of the root is checked, 
and they should be harvested and pitted at once. The same is true 
of carrots. They bear very little freezing, and the frosting of the 
leaves is the signal for rapid gathering. One of the most con- 
venient methods is to plow a furrow close to the row, and run a 
subsoil plow close on the other side. The carrots may then be 
pulled unbroken and with perfect ease. 

— The fresh leaves of mangolds and beets have an injurious effect 
upon cattle if fed in excess. A day or two after cutting they may 
be fed safely — a pressed bushel basketful at a time, sprinkled over 
with a handful of salt. 

Carrots may be sown as early as the ground can be put in good 
order. The Long Orange is the favorite field variety, though the 
White Belgian is said to be more productive ; and, if so, it is better 
for feeding, but not for market. Sow 2 pounds of seed to the acre 
by hand, and i to i^ by machine. 

— Pull all weeds near the young plants when the soil is wet. 
Carrots require clean cultivation. Where the seed failed to come 
up, put in turnips or onions. 

Cabbages. — Put out the plants in good season ; apply a heavy 
dressing of horse manure, well worked into the soil ; hoe mornings 
while the dew is on, working over the earth a few inches deep ; and 
we will almost guarantee large, hard heads. Insects may make the 
result doubtful. 

— Where the ground is rich, nice heads may be raised before 
winter from plants set any time in July, if they are kept well hoed. 
If they don't head up, they make plenty of cow-feed. 

Pitting Roots. — Trenches four feet wide and two feet deep are of 
a size well suited to either a moderate or severe winter. If put in 
too large heaps or too deep pits, roots heat, and of course do not 
keep well. Cover with straw, and lightly with earth patted down 
to shed rain, and ventilate wdU. 



86 ROOTS. — HERBAGE. 

- 11 ■■■! ■ ■ I. ■■■ - I.. ■ . ■ ■ — -■ ■ ■■ !■ ■ I ■ ■ . ■■ n ^ um 

Soft Roots and hollow ones which cannot be pitted are profitably 
fed to either pigs, sheep or young cattle, and also to cows that are dry. 

Whiter Rape, for winter and spring feeding for sheep in the 
South, may be sown early in October. Five pounds of seed per 
acre, if planted in drills, or if broadcast eight pounds, will be 
needed. It may be fed off by penning the sheep upon the crop as 
soon as it has sufficient growth. The surplus may be plowed under 
in the spring as an excellent preparation for oats or corn. This has 
been grown advantageously for this purpose as far north as Roch- 
ester, New York, the sheep even leaving a warm shelter and paw- 
ing away the snow to find it. 

Grass Seed may be sown upon grain, or alone, if it be done early, 
but much seed must be used. 

— Fields may be plowed and sowed with grass seed in June 
without any kind of grain. Still, it is better to sow two or three 
pecks of rye per acre, to partially shade the young grass. 

— Where grass grows very large in moist places, and falls down, 
let it be cut and made into hay at once. When a farmer has 
a large quantity of grass to mow, if he waits until it is all fit to 
make into hay, unless he has an abundance of help, some of it 
will become too ripe. This will suggest the importance of sowing 
different kinds of seeds in some meadows, so that part will be fit 
to cut a few days in advance of the rest. 

Clover. — Where clover has got the start of stock in pastures, it 
is better to mow it off and let a new crop grow, than to let it go to 
seed, as animals do not relish it when it is old and tough. 

Pastures. — Never allow animals to graze on newly-seeded pas- 
tures before the grass has a good start. The feet of heavy animals 
destroy much grass. At first let cattle graze about two hours, then 
yard them. On new land, where the blue-grass starts soon, feed it 
off early in the spring, and keep it short ; few animals like it after 
seed-stalks appear. 

— Do not feed off pastures too closely, as the grass will be a long 
time starting again, especially in hot and dry weather. It is bad 
policy to keep so much stock that pastures are always very short. 
The leaves of grass perform the office of lungs. Therefore, let 
plants have top enough, that the breathing may not be obstructed. 

— Weeds in pastures and fence-corners should not on any ac- 
count be suffered to go to seed. Let them be mowed at once. 

— The droppings of the animals on the pastures should be scat- 
tered and spread. This not only manures the field, but prevents 
injury to the spots covered with droppings. A dressing of plaster 

pver the pasture will be useful, sweetening the foule4 spots, ao4 SQ 



HERBAGE AND FORAGE. 8/ 



•avoiding the unequal character of the surface caused by the neglect 
x)f cattle to eat down the herbage in otherwise distasteful places. 

Meadows. — Keep all kinds of animals off meadows in the spring 
if you would have a good crop of hay. Better pay double price for 
hay than to allow animals to graze on meadows. Make a light, 
long-handled mallet, and knock to pieces all the droppings of ani- 
mals on meadows and pastures. Pick up small stones in heaps, 
and haul otf as soon as the soil will bear up a team. 

— Avoid feeding off the meadows too close ; let no heavy animals 
go on the grass land at all in soft weather, when they will poach up 
and injure the sod. Turn water from the highways or uplands 
upon the meadows and pastures, where it will deposit much manu- 
rial matter. 

Haying. — Commence haying in good time. Where there is 
much grass to cut, some of it n.iust be mowed before it is really fit ; 
otherwise a good proportion v.'ill become too ripe. Grass will make 
the best hay if cut when the stalks are full grown and the heads are 
in full bloom. When there are weeds among the grass, cut it be- 
fore their seeds are formicd. Grass is much less liable to be injured 
by hot and dry weather if cut v/hen quite green. 

— Store the hay as evenly as possible, so that it will come out 
easily. Let a boy or weak man nianage the hay-fork, and let a 
strong man mow away the hay, as that is much the hardest work. 

Slubhle Land, especially after barley, is often full of weeds ; a 
mowing-machine may be used with advantage to cut them. Also, 
in pastures where thistles and other weeds or rough grass and rushes 
are abundant, a mowing-machine affords an easy method of check- 
ing or destroying them. * 

Mowings. — Buy hay, rather than pasture the mowing-lands. 
Top-dressings of soluble fertilizers such as gypsum, guano, am- 
HTonia salts, ashes or liquid manures, are effectively applied now, 
much more so than stable manures or vegetable and animal com- 
posts. Irrigated me' dows may be manured by putting well-rotted 
manure (dung and straw) into a pool from which the water, after 
!.-/■!! ,ing charged with its soluble portions, may be spread over the 
'Iv:- best method of manuring grass. 

•- ^ Whf-re hay or grain is put in stacks make a foundation 

■' oi frnm tiie ground. The best way to build a stack 

. vrrow, and to covei' it with good ] oards placed di- 

iic top, forming a roof like the covcrmg of a lean-to, 

sloping only in one direction. . 

.Fodder. — Vary the fodder of all kinds of stock as much as pos- 
sible within reasonable limits. It is better to change it on different 



88 FORAGfi. — LiVfe-StOCK. 



days, or even at different meals, than to make too great mixtures. 
Hay and straw may be mixed ; ground grains, bran, oil meal, etc. 
may be mixed with hay, straw, stalks or roots. Feed dififerent 
kinds of roots separately. 

Horses. — Give horses daily exercise, either by turning them loose 
in a yard for a few hours or by driving them in the harness. Mares 
with foal should be handled with great care, and if there is much 
snow and ice they should be sharp-shod to prevent their slipping 
down, which would be very liable to cause slinking. Feed breed- 
ing mares a pint of unbolted wheat flour daily in connection with 
Their other food, as a small quantity of wheat flour is more highly 
esteemed than any other meal by experienced horse-breeders for 
developing the growing foetus. 

— Keep brood mares in loose boxes ten feet square, and when 
possible give each one a sunny yard to go to at pleasure in all 
weathers, when it is not too slippery. 

— A few carrots with their grain will aid digestion and appetite, 
and improve their coats. Train colts so that no breaking will be 
needed, either of spirit or of harness. Keep working and carriage 
horses sharp-shod, well groomed, and blanketed when standing 
out or in cold stables after exercise. Ventilate stables, and abolish 
high feeding-racks. 

— While they are shedding their coats the skin makes heavy de- 
mands on the organs of nutrition ; it is peculiarly sensidve to cold, 
to wet and drafts, and horses are liable to take cold. They should, 
therefore, be well fed and groomed, and blanketed when exposed, 
quite as well as in midwinter. Be careful about letdng horses that 
are shod get loose in the lots together. They are playful, and in 
their play often kick one another severely. Horses intended for the 
market should never be used before the plow nor for hard labor. 
Neither should those used for fast work on the road, nor showy car- 
riage horses ; it makes them stiff and awkward, and will seriously 
affect their value. 

— Look to having well-fitting harness ; sponge the shoulders, 
legs and feet of hard-working horses nights and mornings. 

Cows. — Dry off six to four weeks before calving. Give generous 
feed of hay and oats, but not much grain. Cut hay or straw 
steamed, and a little bran or meal added, is profitable. Keep the 
skin healthy by frequent carding and brushing. Those about to 
calve should be turned loose into separate, roomy stalls. Watch 
their time to give assistance if needed, but do not interfere unless 
absolutely necessary, and then use gentle means. Allow the calf 
to have the milk for a day or two. Its effect is medicinal and ne- 



LIVE-STOCK. 89 



cessary to the new-born animal. After calving give the cow a 
warm bran mash made with scalding water, and afterward her or- 
dinary feed, increasing the amount of roots and grain to promote 
the flow of milk and prevent the exhaustion of the animal. 

— Cows which are giving milk must have an increase of feed. 
Mangolds or sugar beets are best. Cut them in slices and sprinkle 
them with bran, and feed half a bushel more or less at a time, after 
the cows have filled themselves with hay or corn, fodder or grass. 
Soft turnips may be fed to some cows at milking-time and not 
flavor the milk. Keep up the flow of milk if possible, especially 
with young cows, by feeding meal, bran and roots. 

Cattle. — Cows that have not yet calved should be allowed to 
stand several hours daily in large sunny yards. If the calves be 
removed from milch cows as soon as dropped, the cow is less wor- 
ried than if they are taken away after she has become attached to 
them. New milch cows ought to have roots or some green succu- 
lent feed: in winter and early spring what is called "slops" sup- 
plies the place of more natural and better things. April is one of 
the worst months for caked bag, garget, milk fever, etc. ; watch for 
the first symptoms, and check the disease if possible. 

— See that all cattle have access to pure water. Where they 
drink at a pond, large poles or sticks of timber should keep them 
from going into the water to stand, as they usually dung immedi- 
ately after drinking. Do not feed too many animals on the same 
ground. One good cow, well fed, will yield more milk than two 
cows on short pasture. 

Calves dropped in February will bring large prices in March. 
If to be raised, wean early, and feed well with skimmed milk, clover 
tea and gruel. 

— Give calves a comfortable yard or pen, whether raised by hand 
or the cow. Confined in close quarters, the floor beneath should 
be cleaned often and littered abundantly. It is as cruel as unprof- 
itable to keep them tied in cold, filthy places. Two calves may 
often be profitably raised on one cow. Always scald or cook meal 
for young calves before mingling it with any kind of milk or feed, 
as raw meal is very liable to produce scours. Wheat flour boiled 
in milk checks scours. 

— Keep the yards or pens dry and clean, and mow a little grass 
for them daily. Where calves are allowed to suck, put a little 
wheat flour in one end of a small trough and salt in the other end, 
where calves can reach it. They soon eat meal. 

— See that they have a good S'Upj>i)' of ilcan, frcr.h water during 
the hot weather. Let them havie access also to a tub jsontaininj sall^ 



90 LIVE-STOCK. 



Wean them gradually. It is very injurious to withhold a full supply 
of milk abruptly, and confine them to grass and water. It often 
stunts them, so that they never recover from it. 

Beeves. — Bullocks or dry cows should be confined a large pro- 
portion of the time in close yards or spacious stalls well littered. 
Feed with hay, corn meal and some pumpkins or roots. Better 
feed bountifully and fatten rapidly than to give a small allowance 
and fatten slowly. 

— It is bad policy to sell good cows for beef because they com- 
mand a high price. Better hold on to good cows for breeding. 

— If the weather be pleasant, allow fattening bullocks or dry 
cows to exercise in a small yard several hours daily. As the warm 
weather comes on, their thrift will be promoted by carding as often 
as once a day. As soon as grass is large enough, let them graze 
about an hour daily ; then return them to the yard, but do not di- 
minish the quantity of meal. Beeves will fatten very fast if man- 
aged rightly. If meal be discontinued, they will not fatten much 
till their bowels become accommodated to green feed. 

— During April, bullocks three years old should receive from 
ten to fifteen pounds of fine corn meal, mingled with wet straw 
during the day. Meal fed at this season of the year will prepare 
them to lay on fat and flesh when they are turned to grass. This is 
equally true of fattening sheep designed for early mutton. 

— Sheep should not be confined in close stables, but, except 
during storms, should have the range of a large stockyard or lot. 
Feed in well-constructed racks and feeding-troughs. Turnips and 
beets, fed freely, are very fattening, and more economical generally 
tha» corn. Whatever grain is fed should be given regularly ; even 
a very small quantity is well, if it can be fed so that each sheep 
shall get its share. Salt ought to be kept constantly where the 
sheep can get at it. If, however, it has not been, they must be 
gradually accustomed to it. Sheep need water in winter. If is 
much better for them to have access to water which does not freeze. 

— Exercise and fresh air are essential to their health. Shelters 
must be well ventilated, not crowded, and the sheep turned out 
daily, except in severe storms. Roots, fed with grain, will be re- 
turned in wool and mutton. Pregnant ewes should have little, if 
any, grain, but roots with hay. Those yeaning early will need sep- 
arate, clean, not over-littered apartments, and careful attention, that 
the lambs be not fatally chilled. 

— There is no better feed for young swine, horses, neat cattle of 
all kinds and sheep than peas and oats. Seed may be obtained 
by the barrel or sack of seed-dealers in moit cities and large towns. 



LIVE-STOCK. 9 1 



-- Keep their yard dry and well littered, and protect them from 
cold and wet storms. Sheep dislike wet yards and leaky roofs as 
much as a cat does a wet floor. 

Sheep bear more exposure than any other of cur domestic 

' animals (not even excepting horses not worked)— that is, exposure 
to the weather, but not without shelter from storms. 

— Sheep frequendy suffer greatly in August for want of water. ^ If 
there is no water in their pasture lot, let them be put at night in a 
lot where there is water, or else be driven to water nig-it and morn- 
ing ; allow them plenty of time to drink. If the weather is wet and 
the grass long and succulent, it is a good plan to mow a portion of 
it occasionally. The sheep will eat and thrive on the dried grass. 
It is a true saying that "sheep like roast meat better than boiled." 
Lambs should be weaned in August. Let them have the best of 
pasture after weaning, and place the ewes on poor pastures until 
dry. Examine the bags for a few days, and, if necessary, draw out 
the milk. When dry, and if early lambs are desired next spring, 
the ewes toward the latter end of the month should begin to have 
abundance of good food. Strong, healthy lambs can only be ex- 
pected from ewes in good condition. Sheep intended to be fattened 
next winter should be purchased in August and placed in good pas- 
ture. In the case of Merinoes select strong, thrifty wethers three or 
four years old. There is no money to be made in fattening poor 
sheep in winter. 

— Separate ail feeble ones from the main flock, so that every one 
may receive a little grain and roots daily in connecdon with other 
food. 

— Sheep, if fed liberally and managed carefully, are most profit- 
able stock. The better we do for them, the better they will do for 
us; badly managed, they are likely to prove a failure. 

— Feeding sheep for market is a profitable business for those who 
have judgment to buy Avell, to feed well and to sell well. Two 
profits can easily be made : a big manure heap and good pay for 
feed and care will be returned to the skillful feeder. 

— Apply a litde pine tar to their noses to repel the fly. Separate 
bucks from ewes, or fetter their fore legs about five or six inches 
apart, that they may be impotent to harm. Designate the age and 
character of each sheep by significant marks on the rumps or 
shoulders. A figure (i, 2 or 3, etc.) on the shoulder may signify a 
ewe and her age, and one on the rump a wether and his age. 

— Make timely and suitable preparati.-^ns for protecting all kinds 
of sheep from the cold storms of rain and snow, which are usually 

gaUeci "May lamb-kiUers," If sheep have been turned to grass, 



92 LiVli-sTocR. 

they ought to be allowed access to a good shed during most of the 
time while such storms prevail. Also, to prevent scours, caused by 
changing from dry feed to grass, let them have only a small quan- 
tity of grass daily for several days at the close of the foddering sea- 
son. Shear early, and without washing. 

— A run in a field from which early roots have been gathered 
will be beneficial to the flock. It will help to accustom them to 
the change of food which will soon be required. Small or imper- 
fect roots may be left ungathered for them, which they will pick 
up for themselves. Where early lambs are not desired, the rams 
should be kept separate from the ewes, or, if it is not convenient, 
the ram may be aproned or " bratted." 

— December is the most important month in the year, in this lati- 
tude, to effect anything in improving sheep. Good protection from 
storms and regular feeding are most important. It is better to com- 
mence feeding lambs and all kinds of sheep a little grain daily in 
December than to wait until they begin to lose flesh. 

Lambs. — The ewes should be coupled in October for March 
Iambs. The best ewe is a common-grade Merino or native sheep. 
For the earliest, those which come from Ohio or Western Pennsyl- 
vania, weighing about ninety to one hundred pounds, are excellent 
for this purpose. A pure South-Down ram, and next a Hampshire- 
Down, and next a Cotswold, is the best animal to cross upon these. 
A plump, fat lamb of moderate size will bring more than a "scraw- 
ney " one half as big again. The black face and legs of the " Down " 
breeds are desirable in market lambs. 

Oxen. — Feed workers a few quarts of meal every day, whether 
they labor or not, as it will give them strength, make them endure 
the heat better, and increase their market value more than the worth 
of the meal. Provide teamsters with a soft leather lash and limber 
stock, with which they cannot strike a hard blow. 

— Feed in accordance with the labor demanded of them, but on 
no account let them fall off in flesh. Oxen low in flesh are more 
liable to meet with accidents than others, and if a poor lousy steer 
breaks a leg, nobody wants the beef, and it is not fit to eat ; not so 
with one in good condition. Young cattle ought not to be pamper- 
ed, but well fed and kept in growing order. 

Working Oxen. — See that the yokes are right, and bows are not 
so short as to choke them. Feed working cattle well and handle 
them carefully, and they will grow fat every day, and be worth more 
for beef next summer than they may be bought for now. Oxen 
will endure the heat nearly as well as horses if fed as well and not 
abused and worried by bad driving. Always allow them at least 



LIVE-STOCK. 93 



two hours during the middle of the day for rest and chewing the 
cud — time for which is quite as necessary as time to feed. 

— Keep them in sheltered sheds, or better in good warm stables, 
well fed and carded frequently. Poor oxen or young cattle are a 
disgrace to any farmer. Do not neglect shoeing in freezing weather. 

Swine. — The quantity of manure which a few hogs will make, 
if plenty of muck and litter be thrown from time to time into their 
pen and the whole be kept under cover, is very great. 

— Separate sows that will farrow from other swine. Allow 
breeding sows, before and after farrowing, potatoes or other succu- 
lent food, with bran or linseed meal. At least two weeks before 
their time for farrowing give them clean, well-littered sties, but not 
straw enough to endanger the young by overlaying of the mother. 
A projecting shelf, eight inches high, on the sides of the pen, will 
allow the pigs to escape much danger from this source. 

— Do not feed too high before the young pigs are ten days old. 

— Pigs designed for pork next fall should be separated from the 
sows as soon as they will eat readily. Keep them in moderately 
close quarters, as, when running about in large enclosures, they 
will expend a great deal of material without adding proportionately 
to their growth. There is nothing better than milk, oat and barley 
meal and wheat flour unbolted to make a pig grow. It is some- 
times more economical to feed wheat flour than oat meal to pigs. 

— As soon as green peas are fit to feed, let the swine have a 
good supply. Keep shoats in a thriving condition. When they 
are confined in close quarters, mow an armful of red clover for 
them once or twice a day. Where whey is fed, it will make much 
better swill to mingle meal or shorts with it, and allow fermenta- 
tion to commence before feeding. Swine of all kinds hke clean 
and pure water, as well as any other animals ; and if they could al- 
ways have access to it, they would not probably " wallow in the mire." 

— Keep no pig over a year old for fattening if the most profit is 
looked for. 

— Low prices causes farmer to neglect their pigs. It is poor 
policy. If kept at all, they should be kept well. Let them search 
for their food, run on the stubbles, pick up wormy fruit in the or- 
chard, and eat weeds and grass. At night they have a feed of 
soaked corn, and go to sleep contentedly with a full stomach. They 
should have constant access to fresh water, and an external appli- 
cation will be gratefully received. 

Dogs. — Unite with your neighbors in urging your representatives 
in the Legislature to protect sheep-raising from the ravages of de- 
structive curs by strong laws. 



94 DAIRY. — POULTRY. 



Dairy. — Look out for improvements in selecting cows for the 
dairy as well as making butter and cheese. Read How to Select 
Cows. Make a horse, dog or sheep do the churning. 

Butter. — Give cows an abundance of sweet grass and clean water,, 
and access to salt ; see that boys and dogs do not worry them ; milk 
r .^gularly with clean hands ; keep milk in clean and sweet vessels, 
and in a cool, pure apartment; churn often; work the butter well 
with anything but the bare hands ; use only the purest and best salt; 
pack in clean jars or tubs; keep cool, and cover with salt cloths, 
and the butter v/ill be equal to prime " Orange County." 
• Poultry. — To gratify the secretiveness of hens make nests where 
they cannot be seen by other fowls when they are laying or setting. 
If nests be too deep, eggs will rest on each other, which should never 
occur. 

— Confine as soon as the garden is sown, or keep them out of 
it. Put hens (in coops) and young chickens in the garden. Tur- 
keys' eggs ought not to be set before the first of May ; when 
hatched, put the brood in a dry, warm shed, where no other poul- 
try have been in the habit of frequenting, and keep them out of 
dewy grass for six weeks. 

— Keep a good dust -bath for the fowls, and add unleached wood- 
ashes to it occasionally ; watch any appearance of vermin, and clear 
them out with an application of kerosene, which may be rubbed un- 
der the wings and on the backs and breasts of the birds. White- 
wash occasionally and thoroughly houses, perches, nests and all. 

— Collect eggs of all kinds before evening, lest they be injured 
during cold nights. Place those designed for setting in a pan of 
bran or oats, little end down, to keep the yolk from the side and 
adhering to the shell. Hens and other female birds turn over their 
eggs frequently, both before and during the period of their incu- 
bation. Mark choice eggs with red chalk or pencil. 

— Why do so many eggs sold in the markets taste so strongly of 
straw ? Because the farmers permit their fowls to work most of 
their living out of the manure-heap. This not only gives the 0,%% a 
peculiar taste, but the flesh also. Just feed a hen on onions or 
turnips for a few days ; kill it, and you will be convinced of the 
effect of the food on the 0^%% and meat, if you have any doubt on 
the subject. Give your fowls plenty of sound grain and clean food, 
and keep the manure for the soil. 

— Feed well ; let them out of the yard before sunset daily ; sup- 
ply them with a box of sharp gravel where there is none in the 
soil. Whole grain should be soaked at least twenty hours fortheni; 
and if ground it will go much farther. 



POULTRY. 95 

— If eggs are expected during the winter, they must be provided 
for in October. Dispose of the old hens ; select as many of the best 
young pullets, and feed them well. Give wheat soaked in hot water 
once a day. Barley, buckwheat and corn, in equal proportions, 
may make the rest of the food ; chopped cabbages will help. Pro- 
vide clean quarters, plenty of water, gravel, old mortar and char- 
coal. Make the house warm ; do not crowd too many into it, and 
a good supply of eggs will result. 

— Insist on having eggs. Warm, clean quarters, cooked grain 
and potatoes, scraps of meat, powdered bones or lime, gravel, 
ashes and warm water, are the convincing arguments. 

— Feed scraps of meat or pounded bones frequently in winter. 
Give warm, light quarters, and dry ashes to dust themselves with, 
fresh water (but warm) daily, and keep the water and feed vessels 
scrupulously clean. Thus avoid diseases among poultry, and get 
plenty of eggs. 

— Fill a box before the snow covers the ground with a bushel or 
two of clean gravel ; but if this cannot be found, pound up some 
large stones — best sandstones. 

Care of Poultry, — Roup. — If hens seem to have cold in the 
head, what is the matter, and how can I cure them ? 

It is roup. Remove the dry discharge from the eyes and nose, 
and wash them morning and evening with water and vinegar, about 
half and half. 

Pip. — What will cure pip in hens ? 

Pip is caused by exposure to damp or wet weather. The symp- 
toms are a short, quick, spasmodic cough resembling a chirp, with 
a stoppage of the nostrils, compelling the fowl to respire through 
the mouth. It is not considered a disease in itself, but is a symp- 
tom, and if not attended to and checked will result in catarrh, and 
oftentimes end in roup. Remove the bird to a dry, warm place, 
wash out the mouth and nostrils with a weak solution of chlorinated 
soda, and mix cayenne pepper with the food. 

A Cure for Chicken Cholera. — One of the greatest afflictions 
in the poultry-yard is chicken cholera, and when once the disease 
gets a foothold, unless some prompt measures are taken to prevent 
its spread, the consequences are often disastrous. The following is 
a specific for this disease : 



Cayenne pepper, 2 parts, 
Prepared chalk, 2 parts, 



Pulverized gentian, i part. 
Pulverized charcoal, i part. 



Take the parts by measurement, not by weiglu. Mix all with lard 
or mutton suet to a consistency suitable to be made into pills, and 



96 MISCELLANEOUS. 



make them about the size of a common marble. To fowls afflicted 
with cholera or roup give each one pill twice a day, and keep them 
in a warm, dry place. In forty-eighi hours a cure will be effected. 
As a preventive when cholera prevails in the neighborhood, one 
pill once a week may be given to each fowl. With this recipe six- 
teen out of seventeen chickens attacked with cholera can be cured. 

Miscellaneous. — Accomtis. — No farmer is true to his own inter- 
ests who does not keep accurate accounts of his business. It is not 
so easy as where everything has a definite money-value, but after a 
little practice we may soon get in the way of placing a just value on 
the labor of men and animals, our own time, etc. One of the most 
important things is a correct inventory of everything that has value 
— of investments and stock in trade ; of debts and dues ; of live- 
stock and implements ; of manures in the ground and in the com- 
post heap, etc. etc. A good inventory once a year is an invaluable 
aid in regulating future management. Devote sufficient time to a 
thorough going over of all accounts, and begin the new year with 
a clear statement of your debts and dues. 

Advertisements are profitable reading. They usually indicate 
what progress the world is making. To farmers they are invalu- 
able. Notes on tools, seeds, stock, trees, plants, etc. should be 
made, and further information gained by sending for circulars of 
trustworthy parties. 

Animals. — Let roots be fed at least in small quantities wherever 
practicable. Use the card and brush freely on horses and neat 
stock, and see to it that the active fermentation which the warm 
weather will cause in the manure does not affect the stock unfavor- 
ably. Mares, cows, ewes and sows are all liable to slink their 
young unless they receive constant care — not once a week, but sev- 
eral times a day. It is unnatural for animals to bring forth prem- 
aturely, and the reason for their doing so is often plain. Some- 
times it is caused by lack of sufficient nourishment, water and feed ; 
sometimes by ergot, and perhaps smut or poisonous fungi in the 
hay ; sometimes by over- exertion, by slipping down, or by some 
act of violence, such as a kick in the flank with a big boot, a severe 
hooking or worrying or something else. Mares and cows frequent- 
ly shnk their young in April for want of water, and sometimes from 
being compelled to drink impure water, especially that impregnated 
with manure, either upon the surface or from wells in the barn- 
yard into which the leachings run. Feed whole grain to no ani- 
mals except sheep having good teeth. As the warm weather comes 
on, and animals begin to shed their hair, they will consume as 
much feed as in winter, if it be good. The change of feed from 



MISCELLANEOUS. 97 



green to dry should be gradual with all stock ; otherwise the ap- 
petite may fail and the animals lose thereby. 

Ashes fresh from the fire should not be emptied into wooden 
smoke-houses. A few smouldering sparks may be sufficient to 
fire the structure, destroy its contents and cause great loss ; at least 
the lower part should be brick or stone. 

— Leached or unleached wood or coal ashes (if firee from slate 
and clinker) are excellent for top-dressing lawns, meadows and 
pastures ; and the more they are scattered around fruit trees of all 
kinds, the better will be the fruit. Instead of collecting them in 
heaps, scatter where they are needed as soon as convenient quan- 
tities accumulate. Ashes heaped up against young trees will often 
destroy the bark and kill them. 

Bags, Barrels, Baskets, etc., used for marketing or kept at home, 
should be plainly marked with the owner's name and residence. 
A branding-iron or marking-plate and brush will save much loss. 
Improve leisure by putting all in repair. 

Birds. — Spare the birds, for they are great benefactors to 
farmers and gardeners. Do nothing to fiighten them from your 
grounds. 

— Prepare neat houses for martins, bluebirds and wrens, to be 
put up about the house, fruit-yard and farm. The occupants next 
season will pay good rent by destroying multitudes of insects, and 
sing grateful thanks. 

— For wrens, boxes 4x4, with an inch hole for entrance two 
inches above the floor; for bluebirds, 6 v. 6, with iX-inch hole. 
Colonize the different birds in separate places, for the wrens are 
quarrelsome. 

Debts. — Lift mortgages rather than buy carriages or other non- 
essentials. A pinching time will come. 

Eaves- Troughs. — Before freezing weather remove leaves and all 
other sediment which settle in the eaves-troughs. When cistern 
water is not used for drink, for culinary purposes or for stock, it is a 
good plan to paint the troughs over with gas or coal tar, applied hot 
after boiling it an hour ; it is a good preservative. 

Fanners' Clubs. — Hold fi"equent meetings. Discuss the farming 
of your own neighborhood, and how it may be improved. Find 
out who has got the best seeds of various kinds, and secure the ad- 
vantage for the club. Make observations on the care of stock, and 
see whose are wintered the best and most conveniently. 

— The meetings may be made interesting by committees ap- 
pointed to investigate and report on various subjects, as new crops 
proposed, new implements, the condition of farms in the vicinity, 

7 



98 MISCELLANEOUS. 



etc. ; by correspondence with other similar associations, and occa- 
sional joint meetings of the clubs of a township. 

Food for cattle and hogs will be improved and economized by 
steaming. A good apparatus especially for this purpose will pay 
where many animals are kept, A large kettle will do. 

Harness and Carriage- Tops. — Keep clean, and, after they have 
been wet, oil them thoroughly. 

Hoove. — Watch all animals that feed on red clover, and prevent 
this dangerous disease, which comes-from over-feeding. 

Ice. — The earlier ice is secured, the better. If well put in in the 
coldest weather, it is a good job out of the way. Use clear, good 
ice only. 

— In good weather an ice-house may be made and filled within 
a week. One will pay on a dairy farm, and be convenient every- 
where. 

Markets. — Hold no produce after a good price is offered. Grain 
shrinks, heats or is destroyed by vermin very often, and beeves and 
sheep, after they are fit for market, are seldom kept with profit more 
than a few weeks at most. 

Maple Sugar. — The high price of sugar should stimulate the 
largest possible production. The first flow of sap is the richest ; 
make preparation to secure it during the open weather, which often 
occurs in February, 

Racks. — As soon as the foddering season is over, remove the 
feeding-racks from the yard to some place where they will not be 
damaged during summer. Stored under shelter, they will last 
years. 

Rats. — The damage by rats is one of the most serious losses to 
which farmers are subjected. On the whole, this loss is doubtless 
greater than that from all the fires which occur upon farms. A 
preparation called " Poisoned Wheat," put up for the purpose of 
destroying vermin, is very effective. But poison of any kind 
should be used so that fowls or other animals cannot get it. To de- 
stroy the rats is a timely work, and will prevent much loss of grain. 

Stitidry Matters. — Harvesting machinery should be cleaned and 
stored away. The bright parts may be kept from rusting by coat- 
ing them with paraffine or tallow. One of the best preparations ta 
protect iron or steel from rust is made by melting a pound of fresh 
(not salt) lard with a piece of rosin the size of a hen's ^g% — the 
exact proportion not important. Melt the two together, and stir as 
it cools ; keep secure from dust, and use it on all parts of machi- 
nery liable to injury by rust. . . . The bearings should be well wiped 
and oiled with castor-oil. All dust should be removed, and with 



MISCELLANEOUS. 99 



costly machinery it will pay to provide a sheet or blanket to cover 
it with as a protection from dust .... Where swamp-muck is to be 
dug, it is best to give the work by contract. A good man can make 
fair wages at fifteen cents a cubic yard ; if the workman is not a 
good one, he cannot expect higher pay on that account. Muck 
should be dug before cold weather comes, as it is disagreeable work 
when the ground is full of cold water. . . .Hay that is stacked 
should be hauled in, or the stack should be protected on the top by 
extra covering. Coarse herbage or weeds not in seed may be cut 
and hauled into the barnyard, and spread to form a basis for a 
deep coating of manure and an absorbent for moisture. An abun- 
dance of litter will soak up the water and prevent the drainage 
which so often flows from yards and accumulates in foul pools. 

Sunshine. — Every animal should have the benefit of the sunshine 
as well as light. Such as have been kept in close quarters all win- 
ter should be allowed to go out and bask in the sunshine every day. 
Sunshine in the spring is a great luxury for all kinds of animals, 
and promotes their health and thrift. 

— Young stock need not be housed until real cold weather sets 
in, but they should have a warm shed to lie in at night, and be 
kept in first-rate condition. 

Seeds. — Look out in advance for good fresh seeds of all kinds. 
Try all that are the least doubtful in pots or boxes of earth, care- 
fully attended, and neither too wet nor too dry. Never keep seeds 
in air-tight or very close vessels. 

Timber Land. — Clean the wood-lots of crooked, broken or hollow 
trees, and secure fire-wood in this way, and do it at the present season. 

Trees. — As soon as the frost is out of the ground ornamental 
trees may be transplanted, and if the soil is in order fi-uit trees also. 
Drain the soil thoroughly, and pulverize deeply for all kinds of 
trees and shrubbery ; manure will usually be needed. 

Ventilators. — Make one or two near the middle of every stack 
and mow by tacking four boards about one foot wide together, 
making a trunk ; set these on end, and draw them upward as 
the mow or stack is carried up. Some holes should be bored 
through the floor where the ventilator stands, to let in the air. A 
bag stuffed with hay answers a similar purpose to the trunk or 
boards, but of course may not be left in the top of the hole, as 
the trunk may, when the mow is full. 

Water. — It is a great mistake to stint animals in water ; seventy- 
five per cent, of their weight is water. Digestion cannot go on with- 
out it. Water is therefore food in one sense, and an ample supply 
should be provided for every animal to driuk when inclined. 



lOO MISCELLANEOUS. 



— See that water does not stand on winter grain nor for a long 
time on grass ground. A few hours' work with spade and shovel 
will often release numerous small ponds which would materially 
injure vegetation. Surface water frequently settles and remains a 
long time in low places near fruit trees, vines or bushes, to their 
great injury. 

— Look carefully over the farm when there is a great amount of 
surface water, and see that it does not run across recently plowed 
fields and wash away the soil. Turn small streams of muddy water 
from highways upon meadows and pastures ; they carry with them 
much fertilizing matter, and will increase the crop of grass for years. 

Wood. — Begin early to look out for the season's supply from 
the wood-lot. It is poor economy to burn green wood ; better to 
let it stand in a hot place or lie in the stove oven to dry well. 
Water put upon the fire only tends to put it out. 

— Improve every stormy and leisure day in preparing fire-wood. 
Split and pile whatever fire-wood is exposed to the weather, so that 
it may dry out before it becomes water-soaked. Fire-wood should 
have the benefit of the hot weather in July and August. Save many 
late dinners and much needless scolding and annoyance in the 
household by having a year's stock cut and stored under cover. 

Wool. — Keep the floor clean while shearing ; tie it up neatly ; 
arrange the fleeces to show advantageously, and keep it in a clean 
apartment where mice or rats will not carry chaff and straw 
among it. 

Work. — Drive your work in the cool parts of the day. From 
four o'clock to seven in the morning — the very time when most 
farmers do the least work — is the pleasantest time to labor. Rest 
from 1 1 to I o'clock. Then work will go much easier than to rest 
during the cool part of the day. 

Rainy-day work is painting and cleaning of tools, oiling and 
mending of harness, cutting kindling-wood, and such like jobs 
common upon every farm. 

Wagons. — Keep them well protected from rains and sunshine, as 
the continued influence of these injures vehicles more than the or- 
dinary use. Rain will hurt them but little if they are kept in the 
shade. A liberal coat of linseed oil on the wheels will often save 
dollars for resetting: the tire. 



One acre well cultivated is more profitable than two which re- 
ceive only the labor and attention that should be given to one. 
One sheep or cow well fed is more profitable than two fed on the 
amount necessary to keep but one well. 



FLOWER, FRUIT AND VEGETABLE GARDEN. lOI 



CALENDAR FOR THE FLOWER, FRUIT AND VEGETABLE 

GARDEN. 

{Chiefly for the Northern States.) 
January. 

Flower Garden. — Hyacinths and other bulbs that have been kept in a 
cellar or other dark, cool place may now be brought into the light of the 
sitting-room, provided they have filled the pots with roots. If they are 
not well rooted, leave them until they are, or selegt such of them as are 
best, leaving the others. In the outside flower garden little can be done, 
except that shrubs may be pruned, or new work, such as making walks or 
grading, performed, if weather permits. 

Fruit Garden. — Pruning, staking up or mulching can be done if the 
weather is such that the workmen can stand out. No plant is injured by 
being pruned in cold weather. 

Vegetable Garden. — But little can be done in the Northern States except 
to prepare manure and get sashes, tools, etc. in working order; but in sec- 
tions of the countiy where there is little or no frost the hardier kinds of 
seeds and plants may be sown and planted, such as asparagus, cabbage, 
cauliflower, carrot, leek, lettuce, onion, parsnip, pea, spinach, turnip, etc. 
In any section where these seeds can be sown in open ground it is an in- 
dication that hot-beds may be started for the sowing of such tender vege- 
tal:)! es as tomatoes, egg and pepper plants, etc., though, unless in the 
extreme Southern States, hot-beds should not be started before the be- 
ginning or middle of February. 

February. 

Flower Garden. — The directions for January will in the main apply to 
this month, except that now some of the hardier annuals may be sown in 
hot-beds, and also the propagation of plants by cuttings may be done leather 
better now than in Januaiy, as the greater amount of light gives more 
vitality to the cutting. 

Fruit Garden. — But little can be done in most of the Northern States 
as yet, and in sections where there is no frost in the ground it is likely to 
be too wet to w^ork ; but in many Southern States this will be the best 
month for planting fruit trees and plants of all kinds, particularly straw- 
berries, raspberries, blackberries, pear and apple trees, while grapevines 
will do, though they will also do well quite a month later. 

Vegetable Garden. — Leaves from the woods, house manure or refuse 
hops from breweries may be got together toward the latter part of this 
month, and mixed and turned to get "sweetened" preparatory to forming 
hot-beds. Cabbage, lettuce and cauliflower seeds, if sown early this 
month in hot-bed or greenhouse, will make fine plants if transplanted 
into hot-bed in March. This is preferable to the use of fall-sown plants. 
Manure that is to be used for the crop should be broken up as fine as pos- 
sible, for the more completely manure of any kind can be mixed with the 
soil the better the crop will be, and, of course, if it is dug or plowed in in 
large, unbroken lumps it cannot be properly commingled. 

March. 
Flower Garden. — Hardier kinds of annuals maybe sown; it is best done 
in shallow boxes, say two inches deep. Lawns can be raked off and mulched 



102 FLOWER, FRUIT AND VEGETABLE GARDEN. 

with short manure, or rich garden earth where manure cannot be obtained. 
Flower beds on Hght soils may be dug up so as to forward the work of the 
coming busy spring season. 

Fruit Garden. — In many sections planting may now be done with 
safety, provided the soil is light and dry, but not otherwise. Again, at 
this season, although a tree or plant will receive no injury when its roots 
are undisturbed in the soil, should a frost come after planting the same 
amount of freezing will, and very often does, greatly injure the pl^nt if 
the roots are exposed. 

Vegetable Garden. -*-T\{\% is a busy month. In localities where the frost 
is out of the ground, if it is not wet, seeds of the hardier vegetables can 
be sown. The list of seeds given for the Southern States in January may 
now be used at the North, while for most of the Southern States tender 
vegetables, such as egg-plant, okra, sweet potatoes, melons, squash, pota- 
toes, tomatoes, etc., may be sown and planted. Hot-beds must now be all 
started. 

April. 

Flower Garden. — Window plants require more water and ventilation. 
Due attention must be paid to shifting well-rooted plants into larger pots, 
and, if space is desired, many kinds of hardier plants can be safely put out 
in cold frames. All herbaceous plants and hardy shrubs may be planted 
in the garden. The covering of leaves or litter should be taken off bulbs 
and tender plants that were covered up for winter, so that the beds can be 
lightly forked and raked. Sow tender annual flower-seeds in boxes inside. 

Fruit Garden. — Strawberries that have been covered up with straw or 
leaves should be relieved around the plants, leaving the covering between 
them. Raspberries, grapevines, etc. that have been laid down, may now 
be uncovered and tied up to stakes or trellises, and all new plantations of 
these and other fruits may now be made. 

Vegetable Garden. — Asparagus, rhubarb, spinach, etc. should be un- 
covered, and the beds hoed or dug lightly. Hardier sorts of vegetable 
seeds and plants, such as beets, cabbage, cauliflower, celery, lettuce, onions, 
parsley, parsnip, peas, potatoes, radishes, spinach, turnip, etc., should all 
be sown or planted by the middle of the month if the soil is dry and warm, 
and in all cases, where practicable, before the end of the month. It is 
essential, in sowing seeds now, that they be well firmed in the soil. Any 
who expect to get early cabbage, cauliflower, lettuce or radishes, while 
planting or sowing is delayed until the time of sowing tomato and egg- 
plant in May, are sure to be disappointed of a full crop. 

May. 
Flower Garden. — Window plants should be in their finest bloom. By 
the end of the month all of the plants that are wanted for the summer 
decoration of the flower border may be planted out, first loosening a little 
the ball of earth at the roots. If the weather is dry, water freely after 
planting. Flower beds should be kept well hoed and raked, to prevent 
the growth of weeds next month. Lawns should be mown and the edg- 
ings trimmed. Pelargoniums, pinks, monthly roses and all the half-hai'dy 
kinds of flowering plants should be planted early; but coleus, heliotrope 
.and the more tender plants should be delayed until the end of the month. 
Annuals that have been sown in the greenhouse or hot-bed may be planted 



FLOWER, FRUIT AND VEGETABLE GARDEN. IO3 



out, and seeds of such sorts as mignonette, sweet alyssum, phlox Drum- 
mondii, portulaca, etc, may be sown in the beds or borders. 

Fruit Garden. — The hay or leaf mulching on the strawberry beds should 
be removed and the ground deeply hoed, after which it may be placed on 
again to keep the fruit clean and the ground from drying. Where it has 
not been convenient before, most of the smaller fruits may yet be planted 
during the first part of the month. Tobacco-dust will dislodge most of 
the numerous kinds of slugs, caterpillars or worms that make their appear- 
ance on the young shoots of vines or trees. 

Vegetable Garden. — Attention should be given {o new sowings and 
plantings for succession. Crops sown last month will have to be thinned 
out if large enough. Hoe deeply all transplanted crops, such as cabbage, 
cauliflower, lettuce, etc. Tender vegetables, such as tomatoes, egg and 
pepper plants, sweet potatoes, etc., can be planted out. Seeds of Lima 
beans, sweet corn, melon, okra, cucumbers, etc. should be sown, and sow 
for succession peas, spinach, lettuce, beans, radishes, etc. every ten days. 

June. 

Flower Garden. — Hyacinths, tulips and other spring bulbs may be dug 
up, dried and placed away for next fall's planting, and their places filled 
with bedding plants, such as coleus, achyranthes, pelargoniums and the 
various white and colored leaf-plants. It will be necessary to mow the 
lawn once a week. 

Fruit Garden. — The small fruits should be mulched about the roots, if 
this has not yet been done. Grapevines outside as well as in should be 
disbudded. 

Vegetable Garden. — Beets, beans, carrots, corn, cucumbers, lettuce, peas 
and radishes may be sown for succession. This is usually a busy month, 
as many crops have to be gathered, and, if hoeing is not promptly seen to, 
weeds are certain to give great trouble. Tomatoes should be tied up to 
trellises or stakes if fine flavored and handsome fruit is desired, for if left 
to ripen on the ground they are apt to have a gross, earthy flavor. 

July. 

Flower Garden. — All plants that require staking, such as dahlias, roses, 
gladioli and many herbaceous plants, should- now be looked to. Carna- 
tions and other plants that are throwing up flower stems, if wanted to 
flower in winter, should be cut back ; that is, the flower stems should be 
cut off" to say five inches from the ground. 

Fruit Gdirden. — If grapevines show any signs of mildew, dust them 
over with dry sulphur, selecting a still, warm day. The fruit having now 
been gathered from strawberry plants, if new beds are to be formed, the 
system of layering the plants in small pots is the best. Where apples, 
pears, peaches, grapes, etc. have set fruit thickly, thin out at least one- 
half to two-thirds of the young fruit. 

Vegetable Garden. — The first ten days of this month will yet be time 
enough to sow sweet corn, beets, lettuce, beans, cucumbers and rutabaga 
turnips. Such vegetables as cabbage, cauliflower, celery, etc., wanted 
for fall or winter use, are best planted this month, though in some sec- 
tions they will do later. Keep sweet potatoes hoed to prevent the vines 
rooting at the joints. 



I04 FLOWER, FRUIT AND VEGETABLE GARDEN. 

August. 

Flower Garden. — But little deviation is required from the instructions 
for July. 

Fruit Garden. — Strawberries that have fruited will now be making 
"runners" or young plants. These should be kept cut off close to the 
old plant, so that the full force of the root is expended in making the 
" crowns " or fruit-buds for next season's crop. If plants are required 
for new beds, only the required number should be allowed to grow, and 
these should be layered in pots, as recommended in July. The old stems of 
raspberries and blackberries that have borne fruit should be cut away, and 
the young shoots thinned to three or four canes to each hill or plant. If tied 
to stakes and topped when four or five feet high, they will form three or 
four branches on a cane, and will make stronger fruiting plants for next year. 

Vegetable Garden. — Hoe deeply such crops as cabbage, cauliflower and 
celery. The earthing up of celery this month is not to be recommended. 
Onions in many sections can be harvested. The proper condition is when 
the tops are turning yellow and falling down. They are dried best by 
placing them in a dry shed in thin layers. Sow spinach for fall use, but 
not yet for the winter crop. Red top, white globe and yellow Aberdeen 
turnips should now be sown ; rutabaga turnips sown last month will need 
thinning, and in extreme Southern States they may yet be sown. 

September. 

Flower Garden. — The flower-beds in the lawn should be at their best. 
If planted in "ribbon lines" or " massing," strict attention must be given 
to pinching off the tops, so that the lines or masses will present an even 
surface. Tender plants will require to be put in the house toward the 
end of this month ; but be careful to keep them as cool as possible dur- 
ing the day. Cuttings of bedding plants may now be made freely if 
wanted for next season, as young cuttings rooted in the fall make better 
plants for next spring's use than old plants in the case of such soft-wooded 
plants as pelargoniums, fuchsias, verbenas, heliotropes, etc. ; with roses and 
plants of a woody nature, however, the old plants usually do best. Dutch 
bulbs, such as hyacinths, tulips, crocus, etc., and most of the varieties of 
lilies, may be planted. Violets that are wanted for winter flowering will 
now be growing freely, and the runners should be trimmed off. Sow 
seeds of sweet alyssum, candytuft, daisies, mignonette, pansies, etc. 

Fruit Garden. — Strawberry-plants that have been layered in pots may 
yet be planted, or in Southern districts the ordinary ground layers can be 
planted. The sooner in the month both are planted the better crop they 
will give next season ; and, as these plants soon make i-unners, it will be 
necessary to trim them off. Attend to raspberries and blackberries as 
advised for last month, if they have not already been attended to. 

Vegetable Garden. — If cabbage, cauliflower and lettuce are wanted to 
plant in cold frames, the seed should be sown from about the tenth to the 
twentieth of this month ; but judgment should be exercised, for, if sown 
too early, cabbage and cauliflower are apt to run to seed. The best date 
for latitude of New York is September 15th. The main crop of spinach 
or sprouts that is wanted for winter or spring use should be sown about 
the same date. The earth should be drawn up to celery with a hoe pre- 
paratory to earthing up with a spade. Onions that were not harvested 
and dried last month must now be attended to. Turnips of the early 



FLOWER, FRUIT AND VEGETABLE GARDEN. lO^ 

or flat sorts may yet be sown the first week of this month in the North- 
ern States, and in the South from two to four weeks later. 

October, 

Flower Garden. — In northern sections of the United States tender 
plants that are still outside should be got under cover as early as possible. 
Delay using fire heat as long as possible, unless the nights become so cold 
as to chill the plants inside the house. Fall bulbs of all kinds may be 
planted. Take up summer-flowering bulbs and tubers, such as dahlias, 
tuberoses, gladioli, cannas, caladiums, tigridias, and dry them off" thor- 
oughly, stowing them away afterward in some place free from frost and 
moisture during winter, 

F7'uit Garden. — Strawberries that have been grown from pot-grown 
layers may yet be planted in Southern States ; keep the runners trimmed 
off. Fruit trees and shrubs may be set out; but if planting is deferred 
to the last of the month, the ground around the roots should be mulched 
to the thickness of three or four inches with straw, leaves or rough ma- 
nure as a protection against frost. 

Vegetable Garden. — Celery will now be in full growth, and will require 
close attention to earthing up, and during the last part of the month the 
first lot may be stored away in trenches for winter. All vegetable roots 
not designed to be left in the ground during the winter should be dug up, 
such as beets, carrots, parsnips, sweet potatoes, etc. The cabbage, cauli- 
flower and lettuce plants grown from seed sown last month should be 
pricked out in cold frames. If lettuce is wanted for winter use, it may 
now be planted in the cold frame, and will be ready for use about Christ- 
mas, If asparagus or rhubarb is wanted for winter use, it should be taken 
up and stowed away in pit, frame, shed or cellar for a month or two. It 
may then be taken into the greenhouse and packed closely together under 
the stage, and will be fit for use from January to March, according to the 
temperature of the house, 

November. 

Flower Garden. — Plants intended to be grown inside should now all be 
indoors. Keep a sharp lookout for cold snaps, as they come very unex- 
pectedly in November, and many plants are lost thereby. In cases where 
it is not convenient to use fire heat, 5° to 10° of cold can be resisted by 
covering the plants over with paper, and by using this before frost has 
struck the plants valuable collections may be saved. Little can be done 
in the flower garden, except to clean off all dead stalks and straw up 
tender roses, vines, etc, and, wherever there is time to dig up and rake 
the borders, as it will greatly facilitate spring work. Cover up all beds 
in which there are hyacinths, tulips and other bulbs with a litter of leaves 
or straw to the depth of two or three inches. If short, thoroughly decayed 
manure can be spared, a good sprinkling spread over the lawn will help 
it to a finer growth next spring. 

Fruit Garden. — Strawbeny beds should be covered (in cold sections) 
with hay, straw or leaf mulching to a depth not exceeding two inches. 
Fruit trees and grapevines generally should be pruned; and, if the wood 
of the vine is wanted for cuttings, or scions of fruit trees for grafts, they 
should be tied in small bundles and buried in the ground until spring. 

Vegetable Garden. — Celery that is to be stored for winter use should be 
put away before the end of the month in all sections north of Virginia; 



i06 FLOWER, FRtFit AND VEGETABLE GARDEN. 

south of that it may be left in most places where grown throughout the 
winter, if well covered up. The stalks of the asparagus bed should be 
cut off, and burned if there are berries on them, as the seed scattered in 
the soil sometimes produces troublesome weeds. Mulch the beds with 
two or three inches of rough manure. All vegetable roots that are yet 
in the ground, and not designed to be left there over winter, must be dug 
up in this latitude before the middle of the month, or they may be frozen 
in. Cover up onions, spinach, sprouts, cabbage or lettuce plants with a 
covering of two or three inches of leaves, hay or straw to protect them 
during the winter. Cabbages that have headed may usually be preserved 
against injury by frost until the middle of next month by simply pulling 
them up and packing them closely in a dry spot in the open field with the 
heads down and roots up. On approach of cold weather in December 
they should be covered up with leaves as high as the tops of the roots, or, 
if the soil is light, it may be thrown over them if leaves are not con- 
venient. Cabbages will keep this way until March if the covering has 
not been put on too early. Plow all empty ground if practicable, and, 
whenever time will permit, do trenching and subsoiling. Cabbage, cauli- 
flower and lettuce plants that are in frames should be regularly ventilated 
by lifting the sash on warm days, and on the approach of very cold 
weather they should be covered with straw mats or shutters. In the 
colder latitudes, and even in the Middle States, it is absolutely necessary 
to protect cauliflower in this way, as it is much more tender than cabbage 
and lettuce plants. 

December. 

Flower Garden. — Close attention must be paid to protecting all tender 
plants, for it is not uncommon to have the care of a whole year spoiled by one 
night's neglect. Vigilance and extra hot fires will have to be kept up when 
the thermometer falls to 34° or 35° in the parlor or conservatory. If they 
are in the parlor, move them away from the cold point and protect them 
with paper ; this will usually save them even if the thermometer falls to 24° 
or 26°. With plants outside that require strawing up or to be mulched, 
this will have now to be finished. 

Fruit Garden. — In sections where it is an advantage to protect grape- 
vines, raspberries, etc. from severe frost, these should be laid down as 
close to the ground as possible, and covered with leaves, straw or hay, or 
with a few inches of soil. 

Vegetable Garden. — Celery in trenches should receive the final covering 
for the winter, which is best done by leaves or light stable litter; in the 
latitude of New York it should not be less than twelve inches thick. Pota- 
toes, beets, turnips or other roots in pits, the spinach crop in the ground, 
or any other article in need of protection, should be attended to before the 
end of the month ; manure and compost heaps should be forwarded as 
rapidly as possible, and turned and mixed, so as to be in proper condition 
for spring. Remove the snow that accumulates on cold frames or other 
glass structures, particularly if the soil which the glass covers was not 
frozen before the snow fell ; it may remain on the sashes longer if the 
plants are frozen in, since they are dormant, and would not be injured if 
deprived of light for eight or ten days. If roots have been placed in 
cellars, attention must be given to ventilation, which can be done by mak- 
ing a wooden box, say six by eight inches, to run from the ceiling of the 
cellar to the eaves of the building above. 



RECIPES FOR THE FARM. lO;^ 



RECIPES FOR THE FARM. 



A FARMER should fit home be found, 
And often looking at his ground- 
Inspecting fields, repairing fence ; 
For dollars come by saving pence. 

Cheap Wash for Buildings.— T^ke a clean, water-tight cask and put 
into it half a bushel of lime. Slack it by pouring water over it boiling 
hot, and in sufficient quantity to cover it five inches deep, and stir it 
briskly until it is thoroughly slackened. When the lime has been slack- 
ened, dissolve it in water, and add two pounds of sulphate of zinc and 
one of common salt. These will cause the wash to harden and prevent its 
cracking, which gives an unseemly appearance to the work. A beautiful 
cream-color may be given to the wash by adding three pounds of yellow 
ochre, or a good pearl- or lead-color by the addition of a lump of iron- 
black. For fawn-color add four pounds of umber, one pound of Indian 
red and one pound of common lampblack. For stone-color add two 
pounds of raw umber and two pounds of lampblack. When applied to 
the outside of houses and to fences, it is rendered more durable by adding 
about a pint of sweet milk to a gallon of wash. 

Whitewash.— Toke half a bushel of unslacked lime, and slack it with 
boiling water. Cover it during the process. Strain it and add a peck of 
salt dissolved in warm water, three pounds of ground rice boiled to a thin 
paste put in boiling hot, half a pound of Spanish whiting and a pound of 
clean glue dissolved in warm water. Mix it and let it stand several days. 
Keep it in a kettle, and put it on hot as possible with a brush. It is said 
to look as well and last nearly as long as oil paint on wood, brick or stone. 

A very simple wash may be made in the following manner: Slack as 

above, and add to each pailful half a pint of salt and the same quantity of 
wood-ashes sifted fine ; this makes it thick like cream, and covers smoke 
much better. Use hot. Coloring may be used if desired. 

Cheap Faint, for painting on or about mills ; excellent and cheap, and 
will last much longer than any ordinary whitewash : Three hundred parts 
of washed and sieved white sand, forty parts of precipitated chalk, fifty parts 
•of resin and four parts of linseed oil are mixed and boiled in an iron 
kettle, and then one part of oxide of copper and one part of sulphuric 
acid are added. This mass is applied with an ordinary paint-brush while 
warm. If it is too thick it is diluted with linseed oil. This paint dries 
very rapidly and gets very hard, but protects the wood excellently. 

J^ilter. — A tight brick box, of a capacity of eight or ten quarts, built in 
the bottom of a cistern, enclosing the end of the pump-pipe, cannot be 
exhausted, and will act as a perfect filter. It may appear strange to those 
who have not seen it, but it is a fact that the water will pass through the 
bricks as fast as it can be pumped out. 

Fixing Shingles.— OWwig or painting shingle roofs at the time of laying 
the shingles pays. Dipping the butts into hot whitewash is also recom- 
mended as the shingles are laid. There can be no doubt of the economy of 
thus protecting roofs from decay, either by painting, oiling or whitewashing. 
Cheap Snow-plow.— Tdke two boards from twelve to fifteen inches 
wide and four feet long ; nail the two ends together, and spread the other 
ends thirty inches apart, making them the shape of a V; confine them in 



to8 RECIPES For the farm. 

place with boards nailed across the top, and by a board across the end 
four or five inches narrower than the sides, so if the path is not perfectly 
smooth it will not catch the stones; near the front end an iron bolt should 
be placed across to hitch the horse to; on the top should be fastened a box 
for the driver to sit on, and the plow is complete. The labor is so simple 
and the cost so small that there is no excuse for a farmer being without a 
snow-plow. 

Cement. — Cement of one part sand, two parts ashes and three parts 
clay, mixed with oil, makes a very hard and durable substance like stone, 
and resists the weather almost like marble. 

Concrete. — For making floors, four parts coarse gravel or broken stone 
and sand, and one part each of lime and cement, are mixed in a shallow 
box and well shovelled over from end to end. The sand, gravel and ce- 
ment are mixed together dry. The lime is slacked separately, and mixed 
with just mortar enough to cement it well together. Six or eight inches 
of the mixture are then put on the bottom, and when well set another 
coating is put on, consisting of one part cement and two of sand. This 
will answer for making the bottom of a cistern that is to be cemented up 
directly upon the ground without a lining of bricks. This will also form 
a very good cellar-floor. 

How to Make Cistej-ns. — Many farmers who have never experienced the 
advantages of barn cisterns would avail themselves of them if they knew 
with how little cost and trouble they can be built. In ordinary clay soils 
a cistern may be built without brick — except for the arch — by merely 
making the excavation of the size and depth required, and laying the 
mortar immediately on the clay sides; if well done with good hydraulic 
cement and clean coarse sand, it will be as pennanent as if plastered upon 
a brick wall. 

Rat-proof House. — About sixteen years ago I built a brick stable, the 
floor of which was formed by laying sleepers for it at suitable distances 
apart, flat on the ground, and then filling up between them with cement 
to a level of their face, and before it dried in the least nailing hemlock 
plank firmly to them. No rat or mouse has ever been able to dig or gnaw 
a hole through this floor. 

Repairing Roofs. — Procure coal-tar at the gasworks, and mix finely- 
sifted coal-ashes or road-dust with it till about as thick as mortar. Plaster 
with this carefully around leaky roof-valleys or gutters or about chimney- 
flushings. It will soon set as hard as stone, and apparently as indestruct- 
ible. This preparation is very cheap, and would probably answer equally 
well spread all over a roof previously laid with felt or roofing paper. Once 
put on properly, it would seem to be there for all time. 

Egg- Preserver. — Take eight pounds of salt, five pounds fresh lime, one- 
half pound saltpetre, one-half pound alum, one-half pound charcoal, six 
ounces gum arable, four ounces copperas and twenty-two gallons of water. 
This will be enough for a barrel or other vessel holding forty-four gallons. 
The charcoal should be broken into very small pieces, and put into a mus- 
lin or common thin cotton cloth sack, and fastened to the side or bottom 
of the vessel in which the eggs are to be put. Put the lime and salt in 
some convenient vessel, and pour in the water; pulverize the alum, salt- 
petre, copperas and gum arable, and add to the water. Stir well until all 
is dissolved, and then let the whole stand twenty-four hours before using. 
When using barrels the preserver can be mixed right in the barrel itself. 



RECIPES FOR THE FARM. lOQ 

Of course larger or smaller proportions of the ingredients may be used in 
accordance with the quantity of preserver you wish to make. The above 
quantity is sufficient for about one hundred and fifteen to one hundred 
and twenty dozen eggs. New barrels are best, and if you use second- 
hand ones be sure that they are perfectly clean and sweet. Vessels in 
which kerosene, coal oil, carbon oil, camphene, patent oils, flaxseed, vin- 
egar or cider have been kept cannot be used at all. Vessels in which 
whiskey, lard or molasses have been kept, and barrels in which meat has 
been salted, will answer very well, but need cleansing and purifying be- 
fore being used. Be careful and pack none but perfectly fresh, sound 
eggs, and keep the vessel containing them in a cool cellar or very cool 
place in the summer, and where they will not freeze in the winter. It 
facilitates the packing to use a basket containing several dozen eggs ; sink 
it in the liquid and turn the eggs out carefully. If any swim, they are bad 
and must be rejected. When ready for shipment take them out with a 
skimmer, drain off in baskets until perfectly dry, so that chaff will not 
stick to them, and pack in dry oats for shipment. The preserver should 
cover the eggs to a depth of two or three inches, and the vessel be covered 
to keep the dust out. In two or three days after packing a thin artificial 
shell forms on top of the preserver, which it is well to leave unbroken as 
long as possible, although no particular harm will ensue from disturbing 
it to remove a part of the eggs if desired. Ground alum is preferable to 
the salt. 

Oiling Harness Leather. — Oils, when applied to dry leather, invariably 
injure it, and if to leather containing too much water, the oil cannot enter. 
Wet the harness over night, cover it with a blanket, and in the morning it 
will be damp and supple ; then apply neatsfoot oil in small quantities, £.iid 
with as much elbow-grease as will ensure its disseminating itself through 
the leather, A soft, pliant harness is easy to handle, and lasts longer 
than a neglected one. Never use vegetable oils on leather, and among 
the animal oils neatsfoot is the best. 

Remedy for Sprains. — Oil stone, one ounce; oil spike, one ounce ; oil 
seneca, one ounce ; spirits camphor, one-half ounce. Mix well and rub 
the part sprained well with liniment. Pour some on a piece of flannel and 
wrap it carefully around the sprain. It has been thoroughly tested, and 
is a sure cure for all sprains of the ankle, wrist or any like place. Is also 
good for horses and cattle. 

A Good Remedy. — A teacupful of mullein-seed mixed with shorts or 
oats, slightly wet, will bring the afterbirth from a cow in four hours, 
without fail. It is plentiful in the fall of the year, and should be stored 
up by every one who keeps a cow. 

To Salt Beef. — Beef will keep well if packed in a mixture of four quarts 
salt, four pounds sugar, and one-quarter pound saltpetre to every one hun- 
dred pounds of meat. Use no water. If properly packed it will furnish 
its own fluid and will cook tender and juicy. 

Remedy for Scours. — Among the many remedies given for scouring in 
stock, there is none better than strong coffee. We have saved the lives of 
colts, cows, calves and pigs. Make the coffee strong, and, if they cannot 
be induced to drink, pour it in through a funnel or from a bottle; but 
dcn't pull out the animal's tongue, as is recommended by some, because 
it is most sure to get into the windpipe. This remedy is simple and always 
on hand, and can be given safely in quantities to effect a cure. 



no RECIPES FOR THE STABLE. 

Waterproof Grease for Boots. — Take a pound of the best fresh tallow or 
mutton suet and melt it in ah earthenware dish with half a pound of bees- 
wax and about half an ounce of rosin, and apply the compound to the leather 
while warm, but not too hot. The soles as well as the uppers should be well 
soaked with this preparation. The wax tends to render the leather more 
durable and pliable, because it is an excellent antiseptic. There is no 
better leather unguent than this. 

Carbonate of Soda. — Dissolve common salt in water; sprinkle the same 
over your manure-heap, and the volatile parts of the ammonia will become 
fixed salts, from their having united with the muriatic acid of the common 
salt; and the soda thus liberated from the salt will quickly absorb carbonic 
acid, forming carbonate of soda; thus you will retain with your manure 
the ammonia that would otherwise fly away, and you have a new and im- 
portant agent introduced — viz. the carbonate of soda, which is a powerful 
solvent of all vegetable fibre. 

Paints. — In selecting paints for out-of-door work, the lighter colors should 
Ije preferred, as being the most durable and useful. The dark colors absorb 
the sun's rays, and occasion earlier decay of the material painted. 

Nails. — Dip the tips of nails in grease, and they can then easily be 
driven into any hard wood where otherwise they would double and break. 

RECIPES FOR THE STABLE. 

Influenza, or " Pink-Eye^'' in Horses. — Under the above names are in- 
cluded many different diseases of the horse. It is, however, better to re- 
strict the term "influenza" only to the epizootic disease of horses, which is 
analogous to the influenza of man, and accompanied by a catarrhal inflam- 
mation of the air-passages, with general debility or weakness of the animal. 

The common term of "pink-eye" is used by horse-owners on account 
of the coloration and general appearance of the eye. 

Drafts or currents of air, low and badly-ventilated stables, are regarded 
as predisposing causes. 

The question of contagion is yet unsettled ; many admit it, while many 
others deny it. The symptoms make their appearance suddenly; an 
animal apparently perfectly well at a given time may a feM' hours after- 
ward be very sick. At first the animals may show only a slight loss of 
appetite, a little fever, which may vaiy in intensity, the pulse becoming 
quicker, the respiration increased, and the temperature rising several de- 
grees. The throat becomes tender on pressure, and then a dry and pain- 
ful cough appears. The eyes become bloodshot and swollen, with a dis- 
charge more or less abundant. Sometimes there is an inflammatory con- 
dition of the eye, followed by the formation of pus, and often the extrem- 
ities are swollen. Soon a discharge from the nose takes place, at first 
thin and watery, afterward more pus-like in character. According to the 
type and severity of the disease and the peculiarity of the individuals, 
nervous symptoms show themselves or troubles of the chest and bowels 
are detected. Thus, we find symptoms of lung fever or bronchitis, col- 
icky pains or inflammation of the bowels, complicating the original dis- 
ease, and again rheumatic symptoms are sometimes observed. Generally, 
the disease runs a regular course, and lasts but a few days — from seven to 
ten, unless it becomes complicated. In the first case there is no fear for 
ultimate recovery, while in the other fatal results may occur. 



RECIPES FOR THE STABLE. Ill 

The epizooty may last a short time, or it may continue for weeks or 
months ; cases are recorded where it lasted a whole year. Irregular in 
its appearance and in its manipulations, it may affect a few horses or may 
lay up all the animals of a stable. "When the disease is simple in its 
character there is no mortality; in the epizooty of Cleveland in i860 it is 
said that only one horse died out of four hundred sick ones. When it is 
complicated the mortality is likely to be greater, and especially is this the 
case where the disease known as purples appears. 

The treatment of simple influenza is very easy. Rest, care in the diet, 
abundant drinks, with small doses of saltpetre, are the principal things to 
be observed. Where there is sore throat employ slight counter-irritants 
by liniments and blisters. A mixture of honey or molasses, with liquorice, 
gum arable and extract of belladonna, will allay the cough. If there is 
extreme debility, alcoholic stimulants may be given in the water, and if 
the administration of pills does not produce too much cough, two drams 
of carbonate of ammonia, with one dram of camphor, may be given. Care- 
ful attention to hygiene, proper ventilation, fresh and clean bedding, band- 
aging of the smaller extremities and judicious blanketing according to the 
condition of the external air, are of the greatest advantage in the manage- 
ment of influenza. Complications require a different treatment according to 
their nature. It is impossible to give any rules relating to the prevention 
of the disease, cleanliness and disinfection being about the only advice to 
give; but influenza will appear, no matter what precautions may have 
been taken against it. 

Saddle- Galls. — To prevent saddle-galls the saddle should be lined with 
some smooth, hard substance. Flannel or woollen cloth is bad. A hard- 
finished, smooth rawhide lining, similar to that, of the military saddles, is 
preferable. Then, if the saddle is properly fitted to the horse's back, there 
will be no galls unless the horse is very hardly used. Galls should be washed 
with soap and water, and then with a solution of three grains of copperas 
or blue vitriol to one tablespoonful of water, which will harden the sur- 
face and help to restore the growth of the skin. White hairs growing 
upon galled spots cannot be prevented. 

— For galled shoulders on horses use equal parts of alum and salt finely 
pulverized. Dampen the sore and dust it on morning and evening. The 
horse can be used during treatment. 

Remedy for Scratches in Horses. — Give the horse one-quarter of a 
pound of epsom salts per day for four days, then one table-spoonful of 
saltpetre per day for three days, then one spoonful per week for four 
weeks, after which time give a dose of saltpetre once a month. 

For killing lice on cows, horses and hogs the following application is 
successful : Take the water in which potatoes have been boiled and rub 
it over the skin of the animal to be treated. The lice will be dead in 
two hours, and no further progeny appear. 

Worms. — For worms in animals give a small quantity of sulphate of iron 
(green copperas) in their feed every other day for a week. 

Harness Polish. — To make a good harness polish, take of mutton suet 
two ounces ; beeswax, six ounces ; powdered sugar, six ounces ; lampblack, 
one ounce ; green or yellow soap, two ounces ; and water, one half pint. 
Dissolve the soap in the water, add the other solid ingredients, mix well 
and add turpentine. Lay on with a sponge and polish off with a brush. 

Pigs. — To keep pigs in a healthy condition give a little salt in what is 



112 RECIPES FOR THE HOUSEHOLD. 

given them to drink. Wood-ashes, containing a good quantity of char- 
coal, should be thrown into the pen, or, if only coal is used for fuel, 
charred pieces of wood will do as well. 

RECIPES FOR THE HOUSEHOLD. 

Water-tight Boot Soles. — We recommend soaking the soles of boots and 
shoes in boiled linseed oil in a flat-bottomed vessel, and let the shoes or 
boots stand in it eight hours. Don't have the oil deeper in the vessel 
than the thickness of the soles, as the oil would make the upper leather 
too hard. It fastens the pegs and makes the soles impervious to water. 

Calciniining. — Calcimining is a veiy superior and elegant way of finishing 
a ceiling or wall. It is quite as easily done as the more common custom of 
whitewashing. Any housewife who can handle a whitewash -brush (the 
more skilfully the better) can perform the act quite as well as the best pro- 
fessional. The material used is to be had at the drug-stores, and is called 
** calcimine" (kaolin prepared by some French method). For a ceiling, 
say foHrteen feet by twenty-two, two pounds ai-e sufficient, and it will cost 
twenty cents, and it is prepared for use in the following manner : Place 
your calcimine in a vessel of suitable size ; then scald it with sufficient 
water to make it the consistency of hot mush ; let it partly cool ; then 
thin down with skimmed milk to the proper consistency for use. " Skimmed 
milk " is best, as the fatty or butter part of new milk would spoil the mixture. 
Observe these directions, and the material will be ready for use. Apply 
with a whitewash-brush. This mixture will work smoothly, and not drag 
under the brush, as most other mixtures for whitewash. It can be colored 
to suit the taste of those using it, or bought of different shades of color. 

Cement. — For a cement that will resist the action of fire and water take 
half a pint of milk ; mix with it an equal quantity of vinegar, so as to coag- 
ulate the milk ; separate the curds from the whey, and mix the latter with 
the whites of four or five eggs, well beaten up. The mixture of these two 
being complete, add.to them unslacked lime which has been passed through 
a sieve ; make the whole into a thick paste, to the consistency of putty, 
when used. This cement has been used to close the fissure of an iron 
cauldron for the boiling of pitch, and which has been in use for five years 
without requiring further repairs, 

Ebonizing. — For ebonizing cheny-wood, powdered nut-galls and alum 
are boiled in water until a blackish color is obtained ; the liquid is fil- 
tered and applied to the wood, which is next washed in a liquor made 
by digesting strong vinegar and a little oil of vitriol for some time with 
excess of iron turnings; thoroughly wash the wood, dry and oil. For 
staining fine woods the following is applicable : Four ounces of gall- 
nuts, one ounce of powdered logwood, half an ounce of green vitriol 
and half an ounce of verdigris are boiled with water, and the solution, 
filtered hot, is applied to the wood, which is then coated with a solution 
of one ounce of fine iron filings dissolved by digestion in a small quantity 
of hot wine vinegar. 

Cement for joining metals and non-metallic substances : Mix liquid 
glue with a sufficient quantity of wood-ashes to form a thick mass. The 
ashes should be added in small quantities to the glue while boiling, 
and constantly stirred. A sort of mastic is thus obtained, which, applied 
hot to the two surfaces that are to be joined, makes them adhere firmly 
together. A similar substance may be prepared by dissolving in boiling 



RECIPES FOR THE HOUSEHOLD. H3 



water two and one quarter pounds of glue and two ounces of gum ammo- 
niac, adding, in small quantities, about two ounces of sulphuric acid. 

Metric System. — It may not be generally known that we have, in the 
nickel five-cent piece of our coinage, a key to the tables of linear measures 
and of weights. The diameter of this coin is two centimetres, and its 
weight is five grammes. Five of them placed in a row will, of course, 
give the length of the decimetre, and two of them will weigh a decagramme. 
As the kilolitre is a cubic metre, the key to the measure of length is also 
the key to measures of capacity. Any person, therefore, who is fortunate 
enough to own a five-cent nickel may carry in his pocket the entire metric 
system of weights and measures. 

A Home-made Telephone. — The following recipe for making a telephone 
may afford much pleasure and amusement to our youthful readers, as well 
as older persons : Take two half-gallon (or quart) tin fruit-cans, and take 
the bottoms out of them. Now take a couple of half cigar-boxes ; tack 
down the lids, and cut a hole through the bottom and lid of each, so you 
can fit in your cans, first bringing the ends level with the lid or bottom. 
Now stretch wet rawhide, parchment or bladder over the other end, and 
tie tight and let it dry, and your speaking-tubes are finished. Now take 
two ply of shoe-thread and wax it well, making it as long as you wish it. 
Punch a hole in the centre of the parchment head, poke the end of the 
string through, and put a knot on it to keep it from pulling back. Then 
put up your string like a telegraph-wire, but don't let it touch wood. 
Where you wish to support it or make a turn, run it through a loop of 
the same kind of string, but don't put the supporting loops closer to- 
gether than is necessary to keep it up, and leave the string pretty loose 
to allow for contraction when wet. Fasten up your speaking-tubes at each 
end of the route, and you are ready to gabble away. You can bore large 
gimlet-holes in your window-sash to run the line through, keeping it 
from touching the sash with a loop as so described. The signal-call is to 
drum on the parchment end of the can with your fingers, or, better, pick tho 
string like a harp about a foot from the head. These telephones are very 
useful and interesting, and can be used for a distance of five hundred yards. 

Rats. — The following are effective remedies for exterminating rats : ist. 
Warm water, one quart ; lard, two pounds ; phosphorus, one ounce. Mix 
thoroughly and thicken with flour. 2d. Carbonate of barytes, two ounces ; 
grease, one pound. Mix thoroughly. Have a pan of water alongside, as 
it produces great thirst. 3d. To drive them away alive, take pulverized 
potash ; put plenty in the holes. When left in the air it becomes moist. 
A rat will not trouble you again after it once gets its feet in it. 

Flies. — Flies maybe effectually disposed of without the use of poison. 
Take a half teaspooiiful of black pepper in powder and one teaspoonful of 
cream. Mix them well togetlier, and place them in a room on a plate where 
the flies are troublesome, and they will soon disappear. 

To get Rid of Ants. — Wash your shelves down clean, and, while damp, 
rub fine salt on them quite thick, and let it remain on them for a time, and 
red ants will disappear. 

To Expel Mosquitoes. — It is said that a room may be rid of mosquitoes 
by taking a piece of gum camphor about one-third the size of a hen's egg, 
and evaporate it by placing it in a tin vessel, holding it over a lamp or 
candle, taking care that it does not ignite. The smoke will soon fill the 
room and expel the mosquitoes. 



114 RECIPES FOR THE HOUSEHOLD. 

To Drive off Red Ants. — Grease a plate with lard, and set it where the 
ants are troublesome ; place a few sticks around the plate for the ants to 
climb upon ; they will desert the sugar-bowl for the lard. Occasionally 
turn the plate over a fire where there is no smoke, and the ants will drop 
into it; reset the plate, and in a few repetitions you will catch all the ants; 
they will trouble nothing else while lard is accessible. 

Water. — Use fresh water. Water which has stood in an open dish over 
night should not be used for cooking or drinking, as it will have absorbed 
many foul gases. 

Paste. — Paste for family use similar to that used on postage-stamps and 
gummed labels : Dextrine, two ounces ; acetic acid, four drachms ; alco- 
hol, four drachms; water, two and a half ounces. Mix the dextrine, 
acetic acid and water, stirring until thoroughly mixed ; then add alcohol. 
For attaching labels to tin, first rub the surface with a mixture of muriatic 
acid and alcohol ; then apply the label with a very thin coating of the 
paste, and it will adhere almost as well as on glass. 

Feathers. — To utilize feathers of ducks, chickens and turkeys, generally 
thrown aside as refuse, trim the plumes from the stump, enclose them in 
a tight bag, rub the whole as if washing clothes, and you will secure a 
perfectly uniform and light down, excellent for quilting coverlets and not a 
few other purposes. 

New Kettles. — To remove iron taste from new kettles, boil a handful of 
hay in them, and repeat the process if necessary. Hay-water is a great 
sweetener of tin, wooden and iron ware. In Irish dairies everything used 
for milk is scalded with hay-water. 

Clothes-Line. — A new clothes-line is the terror alike of the husband 
who puts it out and takes it in, and the wife who uses it ; but by boiling it 
for an hour or two it can be made perfectly soft and pliable. It should be 
hung in a warm room to dry, and not allowed to " kink." 

To Exterminate Fleas. — Take half a pound of Persian insect-powder, 
half a pound of powdered borax, one ounce of oil of cedar, quarter of an 
ounce of oil of pennyroyal, properly put up by a druggist ; close the room 
tight; sprinkle this powder on carpet, furniture and beds, and keep closed over 
day or night ; then open all windows and air thoroughly, and in twenty- 
four hours there will be no fleas, flies or mosquitoes left; the rooms can 
then be swept and dusted. This applies nearly as well to roaches and 
water-bugs. 

Recipe for Ink. — Here is a recipe for black ink, quickly made and good: 
To one gallon of boiling hot soft water add two ounces of extract of log- 
wood and one-sixth of an ounce of bichromate of potash. For practical 
purposes take about one half a teaspoonful of logwood and potash as 
large as a small pea; put in teacup and pour half full of boiling water; 
stir till dissolved. A little alcohol put in will prevent freezing. 

Soiled Collars. — The collars of coats become soiled very quickly from con- 
tact with the hair, but ammonia will clean them very quickly without any 
bad odor. Potato-starch water, made by grating potatoes into a little water 
and letting it settle, then pouring it off and rubbing it on with a sponge, 
will also take off the grease and spots. 

Stain. — Walnut stain for pine and white woods : Very thin-sized shellac, 
one gallon; dry burnt umber, one pound; dry burnt sienna, one pound; 
lampblack, one-quarter pound. Shake until well mixed. Apply one COJ|t 
with a brush, then sand-paper and apply a poat of sjiellac varnish,. 



RECIPES FOR THE HOUSEHOLD. II5 



Ground Glass. — To make imitation ground glass that steam will not de- 
stroy : Put a piece of putty in muslin, twist the fabric tight and tie it into 
the shape of a pad; well clean the glass first, and then putty it all over. 
The putty will exude sufficiently through the muslin to render the stain 
opaque. Let it dry hard, and then varnish. If a pattern is required, cut 
it out in paper as a stencil ; place it so as not to slip and proceed as above, 
removing the stencil when finished. If there should be any objection to 
the existence of the clear spaces, cover with slightly opaque varnish. 

Dry Cellars. — A perfectly dry cellar may be made even below the nat- 
ural water-level of the ground by using asphaltum. For this purpose the 
floor should be covered with bricks laid flat and perfectly level; over this 
a layer of melted asphaltum poured, and on this bricks must be laid which 
have been dipped in hot asphaltum, so that there will be asphaltum in the 
joints between the bricks. 

Bright Lights. — If you desire to render the flame of your lamp more 
brilliant without'' increasing the consumption, whether you burn oil, fluid 
or any of the products of petroleum, soak your wicks in vinegar and dry 
before using. This is an old idea, and, as it is easy, it ought to be tried. 

To Purify Water. — Sprinkle a little powdered alum in the water, and 
in a few hours all impurities will be precipitated to the bottom, leaving the 
water pure and clear as spring water. 

Rose-Leaves. — These are nice to put in cake. Gather as many as wished, 
chop fine, mix in a little white sugar, spread on plates and dry. When 
perfectly dry, pack in cans and keep air-tight. 

Dress Wash. — A very nice thing for a lady to keep a bottle of this on 
her dressing-table always for little spots on her garments : One quart of 
boiling water, half an ounce of camphor, one ounce of borax ; after cool- 
ing, half a pint of alcohol. 

To Wash Red Table-Linen. — Use tepid water, with a little powdered 
borax, which serves to set the color ; wash the linen separately and quickly, 
using very little soap; rinse in tepid water, containing a little boiled starch; 
hang up to dry in the shade, and iron when almost dry. 

To Keep Hajus Perfect. — The most easy way of keeping hams perfect 
is to wrap and tie them in paper and pack them in boxes or barrels with 
ashes. The ashes must fill all interstices, but must not touch the hams, as 
they absorb the fat. It keeps them sweet and protects from all kinds of in- 
sects. 

To Wash Hair-Brushes. — Never use soap to wash hair-brushes. Take 
a piece of soda, dissolve it in warm water and stand the brush in it, mak- 
ing sure that the water only covers the bristles. It will almost instantly 
become white and clean. Place it in the air to dry with the bristles down- 
ward, and it will be as firm as a new brush. 

Plaster Casts. — It is found that, by a simple process plaster casts may be 
converted into excellent imitations of terra- cotta ware. The colors required 
are brick-red, lampblack, zinc-white, and yellow ochre, all in powder, and 
the object to be treated is first carefully rubbed with " 00 " sand-paper, so as 
to remove all roughness of the surface of the ridges indicating where the 
parts of the mould have been joined. The mixed color consists of two parts 
of yellow ochre, two parts of brick-red and one part of black, these being 
well rubbed together ; after this, three parts of zinc-white are separately 
mixed with a little milk to a paste, and all the ingredients are then combined 
in a mortar with eight or ten parts of milk, and the resulting mixture passed 



I 

Il6 RECIPES FOR THE HOUSEHOLD. 

through a fine sieve to remove any particles of the white. A soft brush is 
next used to spread the stain over the object, care being taken to lay it on 
evenly, and after twenty-four hours' drying a second coat is applied. 

To Remove Stains with Burkiuheat. — Mix buckwheat flour with cold 
water to make a paste; rub this on the grease-spots; lay in the sun to dry 
thoroughly; then brush off with a dry, hard brush. This will also remove 
all stains from mattresses, etc. 

Spots. — If ink has been spilled over rosewood or mahogany furniture, 
half a teaspoonful of oil of vitriol in a tablespoonful of water, applied 
vith a feather, will quickly remove it. 

Velvet that has been wet and becomes spotted : Hold the wrong side 
3ver steam, and while damp draw the wrong side quickly over a warm 
iron. It takes two to do this — one to hold the bottom of the iron upward, 
and the second to draw the velvet across. 

Ivory that has been spotted or has grown yellow can be made as clear 
and fresh as new by rubbing with fine sand-paper and then polishing with 
finely-powdered pumice-stone. 

Marble can be nicely cleaned in the following manner : Pulverize a little 
bluestone, and mix with four ounces of whiting ; add to these four ounces 
of soft soap and one ounce of soda, dissolved in a very little water. Boil 
this preparation over a slow fire fifteen minutes, stirring all the time. Lay 
it on the marble while hot with a clean brush. Let it remain half an 
hour ; then wash off in clean suds, wipe dry, and polish by quick rubbing. 
If marble is smoked or soiled, either by bituminous coal or too free use of 
kindling-wood, Spanish whiting, with a piece of washing soda, rubbed 
together and wet with only enough water to moisten and make them into a 
paste, will remove the grease and smoke. Dip a piece of flannel in this 
preparation, and rub the spots while the paste is quite moist. Leave the 
paste on for hours, and, if need be, remove it and renew with fresh paste. 
When the spots disappear wash the place with clean hot soapsuds, wipe 
dry and polish with chamois-skin. 

Oil-marks on wall-paper, or the marks where inconsiderate people rest 
their heads, are a sore grief to good housekeepers, but they can be removed 
without much trouble. Take pipe-clay or fuller's earth and make it into 
a paste about as thick as rich cream with cold water ; lay it on the stain 
gently, without rubbing it in ; leave it on all night. It will be dry by 
morning, when it can be brushed off, and unless an old stain the grease- 
spots will have disappeared. If old, renew the application. 

Grease on a carpet, if not of long standing, can be readily disposed of 
by washing the spot with hot soapsuds and borax — half an ounce of borax 
to a gallon of water. Use a clean cloth to wash it with, rinse in warm 
water and wipe dry. 

Spermaceti dropped on any garment or furniture must be first carefully 
scraped off — all that can be removed without injury to the material ; then lay 
brown paper over the spot or a piece of blotting-paper, and put a warm 
iron on the paper until the oil shows through. Continue to renew the 
paper and apply the wann iron until the paper shows no more oil. 

Ink spilled on a carpet or woollen article should be attended to at 
once while still wet, if possible, and then is very easily removed. Take 
clean blotting-paper or cotton batting and gently sop up all the ink that 
has not soaked in. Then pour a little sweet milk on the spot, and soak it 
up from the carpet with fresh cotton batting. It will need to be renewed 



RECIPES FOR THE HOUSEHOLD. 11/ 



two or three times, fresh milk and cotton being used each time, and the 
spot will disappear. Then wash the spot with clean soapsuds and rub dry 
with a clean cloth. If the ink has been allowed to dry in, the milk must 
remain longer and be repeated many times. 

Grape Wine. — Ripe, fresh-picked domestic grapes, twenty pounds ; put 
in a stone jar; pour over them six quarts of boiling soft water; when cool 
enough for the hands squeeze well, after which let it stand three days on 
the pomace, with a cloth thrown over the jar; then squeeze out the juice ; 
add ten pounds of nice crushed sugar ; let it stand a week longer in the 
jar ; then take off the scum, strain and bottle, leaving a vent until done 
fermenting ; then strain again ; bottle tight ; lay the bottles on their sides 
in a cool place. 

To Mend China. — Take a very thick solution of gum-arabic in water, 
and stir into it plaster of Paris until the mixture becomes of the proper 
consistency. Apply it with a brush to the fractured edges of the china, 
and stick them together. In three days the articles cannot be broken in 
the same place. The whiteness of the cement renders it doubly valuable. 

Liquid Glue. — Dissolve one pound of the best glue in about one pound of 
water; add, gradually, one ounce of nitric acid and heat the mixture for 
a short time. This will save the trouble of heating the glue-pot. 

A Good Cejuent. — Alum and plaster of Paris well mixed with water and 
used in a hquid state will form a very useful cement. It will be found 
quite handy for many purposes. It forms a very hard composition, and 
for fixing the brasses, etc, on lamps nothing could be better. 

How to Make a Cement for Stoves. — Take iron filings, and mix to about 
the consistency of putty for glazing with white lead and linseed oil. Fill 
in the joints as securely as possible when the stove is cold, and let it 
stand a day or two before using. 

Clean Silver.— To clean silver plate, fill a large saucepan with water ; 
put into it one ounce of carbonate of potash and a quarter of a pound of 
whiting. Now put in all the spoons, forks and small plate, and boil them 
for twenty minutes ; after which take the saucepan off the fire and allow the 
liquor to become cold ; then take each piece out and polish with soft leather. 
A soft brush must be used to clean the embossed and engraved parts, ^ 

Clear Cellars. — To clear cellars of rats, pour a drop of oil of rhodium 
(obtained of a druggist) upon some bait in a common or wire-spring trap, 
and set in an infested locality. Only a short time will elapse ere the cage 
will be found occupied by vermin. Rats and mice possess a great liking 
for the oil, and, when scented, will risk anything to obtain it. The oil of 
rhodium costs about a cent per drop, but a drop will last for several days. 

Wall Paper. — Paper can be made to stick on whitewashed walls by 
dissolving glue in good strong vinegar and washing them with the solu- 
tion. Heat till the glue is dissolved, and then apply with a brush. 

Lamp-chimneys can be prevented from cracking, when exposed to 
the burning flame, by first placing them in a vessel of cold water and 
bringing this to a boil over the fire, then removing the vessel and allow- 
ing it to cool before taking out the cylinder. 

Fresh Meat.— To keep meat fresh in the absence of ice, simply immerse 
it in buttermilk. This will keep it for several days, when the milk should 
be changed and fresh milk substituted. In this way beef, veal, etc. can be 
kept for several weeks, and will be as sweet and fresh as when first put 
in. It is equally efficacious in the hottest weather. 



Il8 RECIPES FOR THE SICK ROOM. 

Bread. — To make six loaves of best bread, set two quarts of sponge over 
night — one cup of good yeast mixed with water. In the morning boil six 
or eight large potatoes, and mash them ; put in two quarts of milk ; run 
through colander; stir with sponge in flour and set to rise. When light, 
put in two tablespoonsful of sugar; mould in loaves; set to rise; bake. 

NOTES. 

— Mix a little carbonate of soda with the water in which flowers are 
immersed, and it will preserve them for a fortnight. Common saltpetre is 
also a very good preservative. 

— Take a new flower-pot, wash it clean, wrap it in a wet cloth, and set 
it over butter ; it will keep it as hard as if on ice. Milk, if put into an 
earthen can, or even a tin one, will keep sweet for a long time if well 
wrapped in a wet cloth. 

— Common soda is excellent for scouring tin, as it will not scratch the 
tin, and will make it look like new. Apply with a piece of moistened 
newspaper and polish with a dry piece. Wood-ashes are a good substitute. 

— If salt is added to meat in large quantities, it prevents the appearance 
of the red color, but if it is applied a little at a time, and the meat is 
afterward smoked, a good red is obtained. 

— The Chejuical News states that a strong solution of sulphate of mag- 
nesia will give a beautiful quality to whitewash, and a little of it used 
with starch will add considerably to its stiff"ness, and render cotton or 
linen garments to a certain extent incombustible. 

— To remove the diagreeable taste from new kegs, churns or other 
wooden vessels, first scald them with boiling water, then dissolve some 
pearlash or soda in lukewarm water, adding a little lime to it, and wash 
the inside of the vessel well with the solution; afterward scald it well 
with plain hot water before using. 

— For preparing pickles, cold vinegar should be used; a small piece of 
alum in each jar makes them firm and crisp. 

— Every hour's exposure to the light after an Irish potato has been dug 
from where it grew deteriorates its quality. 

— Eggs, when put in water, will, if good, invariably swim with the 
large end upward ; if not, they are bad. 

RECIPES FOR THE SICK ROOM. 

Salt for the Throat. — Diseases of the throat are so prevalent, and in 
so many cases fatal, that a word in behalf of a mosi efl'ectual, if not pos- 
itive, cure for sore throat is timely. For more than forty years we have 
been subjected to sore throat, and more particularly to a diy, hacking 
cough, distressing to ourself and those with whom we are In'ought into 
contact. We were induced to try the virtue of common salt. We com- 
menced by using it three times a day, morning, noon and night. Dis- 
solve a large teaspoonful of pure salt in a small tumblerful of water. 
With this gargle the throat most thoroughly just before meal-time. Dur- 
ing the entire winter we were not only free from coughs and colds, but 
ihe dry, hacking cough entirely disappeared. We attribute these satis- 
iuctory results to the use of the salt gargle, and recommend it to those 
who are subject to diseases of the throat. Persons who have never tried 
the salt gargle have the impression that it is unpleasant. Such is not the 



RECIPES FOR THE SICK ROOM. 110 

case. It is pleasant, and after a few days' use no person who loves a nice 
clean mouth and a first-rate sharpener of the appetite will abandon it. 

Bunions. — To cure bunions use pulverized saltpetre and sweet oil. Ob- 
tain at a druggist's five or six cents' worth of saltpetre ; put it into a bottle 
with sufficient olive oil to dissolve it ; shake it up well, and rub the inflamed 
joints night and morning, and more frequently if painful. 

Cure for a Bone Felon. — Of all painful things, can there be anything 
so excruciatingly painful as a bone felon ? As soon as the disease is felt 
put directly over the spot a fly blister about the size of your thumb-nail, 
and let it remain for six hours, at the expiration of which time directly 
under the surface of the blister may be seen the felon, which can be in- 
stantly taken out with the point of a needle or a lancet. 

Poison. — A poison of any conceivable description and degree of potency 
which has been intentionally or accidentally swallowed may, it is said, 
be rendered almost instantly harmless by simply swallowing two gills of 
sweet oil. A person with a very strong constitution should take nearly 
twice the quantity. This oil, it is alleged, will most positively neutralize 
every form of vegetable, animal or mineral poison with which physicians 
and chemists are acquainted. 

Stye. — A poultice of fresh tea-leaves, moistened with water. Will Clire a 
stye on the eyelid. 

Earache. — For earache dissolve assafoetida in water; wami 3, feW drops 
and drop in the ear ; then cork the ear with wool. 

Burns and Scalds. — The true physiological way of treating bums and 
scalds is to at once exclude the air with cotton batting, flour, scraped potato 
or anything that is handiest. 

Sick Stomach. — The following drink for relieving sickness of the stomach 
is said to be very palatable and agreeable : Beat up one egg veiy well, say 
for twenty minutes ; then add fresh milk one pint, water one pint, sugar to 
make it palatable ; boil, and get it cool ; drink when cold. If it becomes 
curds and whey, it is useless. 

Cure for Croup. — A medical journal says croup can be cured in one 
minute, and the remedy is simply alum and sugar. The way to accom- 
plish the deed is to take a knife or grater and shave off in small particles 
about a teaspoonful of alum ; then mix it with twice its quantity of suga. 
to make it palatable, and administer as quickly as possible. Almost in- 
stantaneous relief will follow. 

Important Hints about the Feet. — As the feet are kept more closely 
covered than any other part of the body during the day, they should be 
thoroughly washed and rubbed till dry every night. Impurities gather 
as the result of the confined perspiration, and these should be removed 
before sleeping. 

Scalds and Burns. — One of the simplest and most useful remedies for 
scalds and burns is said to be an embrocation of lime-water and linseed oil. 
These simple agents combined form a thick, cream-like substance which 
effectually excludes the air from the injured parts and allays the inflamma- 
tion almost instantly. This remedy leaves no hard coat to dry on the sores, 
but softens the parts, and aids Nature to repair the injury in the readiest 
and most expeditious manner. The mixture may be procured in the 
drug-stores; but if not thus accessible, slack a lump of quicklime in 
water, and as soon as the water is clear mix it with the oil and shake 
it well. If the case is urgent, use boiling water over the lime, and it 



120 RECIPES FOR THE SICK ROOM. 

will become clear in five minutes. The preparation may be kept ready 
bottled in the house, as it will be as good when six months old as when 
first made. 

How to Toast Bread. — Keep the bread a proper distance from the fire, 
so as to make it of a straw color. It is spoiled if black, or even brown. 

Toast- Water. — Take a slice of bread about three inches across and 
four long, a day or two old. When it is browned, not blackened, pour 
on it a quart of water which has been boiled and afterward cooled. 
Cover the vessel, and after two hours pour off the water from the bread 
gently. An agreeable flavor may be imparted by putting a piece of 
orange or lemon peel on the bread at the time the water is first poured 
on the bread. 

Beef Tea. — Cut into thin slices a pound of lean meat, pour on a full 
quart of cold water, let it gradually warm over a gentle fire ; let it simmer 
half an hour, taking off the scum ; strain it through a napkin. Let it 
stand ten minutes, then pour off the clear tea. 

Cracked Wheat. — Diy some common wheat, then grind it in a coffee- 
mill ; boil it three or four hours ; add a little salt ; a little milk, butter, 
cream or molasses may be added, as in using hominy. It should always 
be washed clean, and then boiled long enough to become of the consist- 
ence of boiled rice or hominy. A pint of wheat dried and ground is 
enough for a day ; not to be used for supper. 

Boiled Flour and Milk. — Take a pint of flour; make it into a dough- 
ball with water ; tie it tightly in a linen bag ; put it into a pan of water, 
covering the ball, and let it boil two hours ; place it before the fire to dry, 
cloth and all; take it out of the cloth, remove the skin, dry the ball itself. 
Grate a tablespoonful of this, and stir it into a pint of boiling milk until a 
kind of mush is formed. 

Clothes on Fire. — Instantly roll the patient in rug, carpet or blanket, 
thus smothering the fire. Be cautious. 

Fainting. — Lay patient flat on back, with head as low as or lower 
than the body ; unloose dress ; apply smelling-salts to nostrils, or, if they 
are not at hand, burn a piece of rag under nose ; dash cold water in the 
face ; give fresh air. 

Scalds or Burns. — Instantly and liberally apply dry flour, and keep it 
in its place by a bandage. Another excellent application is " prepared 
lard" — that is, lard without salt. Druggists keep it. If only salt lard is 
at hand, wash out the salt in cold water. Do not apply cold water, salt, 
spirits or vinegar. If the burn be in the leg or foot, slit the stocking, so 
as to avoid breaking the skin. 

Dressing Scalds or Burns. — Do not wash the wound, and do not dress 
it oftener than on alternate days. Do not rub or roughly handle the 
affected parts. If there be much discharge, do not wipe, but gently sop 
with soft cloth. No ulcer should be often dressed, as by removing the 
excrement we are likely to rub off also the new flesh. 

Purified Air. — To purify the air by the cheapest and simplest method set 
a pitcher of water in a room, and in a few hours it will have absorbed all 
the respired gases in the room, the air of which will have become purer, but 
the water utterly filthy. The colder the water is, the greater the capacity 
to contain these gases. At ordinary temperature a pail of water will 
contain a pint of carbonic acid gas and several pints of ammonia. The 
capacity is nearly doubled by reducing the water to the temperature of 



RECIPES FOR THE SICK ROOM. 121 

ice. Hence, water kept in a room a while is always unfit for use. For 
the same reason the water from a pump should alway be pumped up in 
the morning before any of it is used. Impure water is more injurious 
than impure air. 

Burns. — Alcohol applied immediately will give instant relief to burns 
and scalds, and generally prevent blistering. If it is a part of the body 
that cannot be immersed in the alcohol, apply it with a piece of cotton wet 
with it. Keep it saturated with it. Avoid the fire when using it, as it is 
inflammable. _ 

Cubeb-berries for Catarrh. — A new remedy for catarrh is crushed cubeb- 
berries smoked in a pipe, emitting the smoke through the nose ; after a 
few trials this will be easy to do. If the nose is stopped up, so that it is 
almost impossible to breathe, one pipeful will make the head as clear as 
a bell. For sore throat, asthma and bronchitis swallowing the smoke 
affords immediate relief. It is the best remedy in the world for offensive 
breath, and will make the most foul breath pure and sweet. Sufferers 
from that horrid disease, ulcerated catarrh, will find this remedy un- 
equalled, and a month's use will cure the most obstinate case. A single 
trial will convince any one. Eating the uncrushed berries is also good for 
sore throat and all bronchial complaints. After smoking, do not expose 
yourself to cold air for at least fifteen minutes. 

Bleeding. — To stop bleeding take the fine dust of tea and bind it on the 
wound — at all times accessible and easily obtained. After the blood has 
ceased to flow, laudanum may be advantageously applied to the wound. 
Due regard for these instructions may save much trouble. 

A New Cure for Rheu7natism. — One of the latest things is that celery is 
a cure for rheumatism ; indeed, it is asserted that the disease is impossible 
if the vegetable be cooked and freely eaten. The fact that it is almost 
always put on the table raw prevents its therapeutic powers from becom- 
ing known. The celery should be cut into bits, boiled in water until 
soft, and the water drunk by the patient. Put new milk, with a little 
flour and nutmeg, into a saucepan with the boiled celery ; serve it warm 
with pieces of toast, eat it with potatoes, and the painful ailment will 
soon yield. Such is the declaration of a physician who has again and 
again tried the experiment, and with uniform success. 

Lemon-juice in Diphtheria. — A most efficient means for the removal 
of membrane from the throat, tonsils, etc. in diphtheria : The juice of 
a lemon applied by means of a camel's hair brush to the affected part 
every two or three hours. 

Whooping Cough. — The following is a specific for whooping cough, and 
will cure in from two days to two weeks : Nitric acid, diluted, twelve fluid 
drachms ; compound tincture of cardamoms, three fluid drachms ; syrup, 
three and a half fluid ounces ; water, one fluid ounce. Mix. One to two 
teaspoonfuls every two hours, according to the age of the child. 

New Cure for Burns. — It has been ascertained that the very best rem- 
edy for burns and scalds is the application of common cooking soda or 
any other alkali in a neutral form, which will afford instantaneous cessa- 
tion from pain. In all cases of superficial burning this simple treatment 
will effect a perfect cure in a few hours, and the severest bums and scalds 
soon yield to it. 

An Asserted Sure Cure for Cancer. — Use the extract of sheep-sorrel 
prepared as follows : Gather the sheep-sorrel when green, place it in a 



122 RECIPES FOR THE SICK ROOM. 

mortar, beat it up very fine, express the juice, strain it in order to get rid 
of the lint and trash. Place the juice in a deep plate, and set it in the 
sun until it evaporates to the consistency of molasses or honey. Spread 
the salve thus produced on a piece of kid or on a linen cloth, and apply 
to the. affected part, renewing it two or three times a day. This applica- 
tion in two or three days will cause the ulcerous part to slough off, after 
which apply a simple ointment to heal the sore. The remedy is sure, and 
causes considerable pain, but it is otherwise harmless. If the patient 
has the nerve to stand the pain.it produces, it will effect a radical cure. 

Poison Ivy. — The Medical Record gives a specific for the troublesome 
eruption produced by the poison oak or poison ivy i^Rhus toxicodendron) so 
common in our woods, and so often mistaken for the Virginia creeper, which 
the plant somewhat resembles. This specific is found in bromine. The 
drug is'dissolved in olive oil, cosmoline or glycerine, in the strength of from 
ten. to twenty drops of bromine to the ounce of oil, and the mixture 
rubbed gently on the affected part three or four times a day. The bro- 
mine is so volatile that the solution should be renewed within twenty- 
four hours from its preparation. The eruption never extends after the 
first thorough application, and it disappears within twenty-four hours if 
the application is persisted in, and the patient is entirely cured. 

A Recipe for Rheumatic Liniment. — Such excellent results follow from 
the following recipe for rheumatic affections that it would be doing good 
to a great many to place it within the reach of all : Oil origanum, one 
ounce; oil cedar, one ounce; gum camphor, two ounces ; cayenne pep- 
per, two ounces ; castile soap, two ounces ; alcohol, one pint. Apply 
with flannel and heal. Not to be used in the region of the lungs. Any 
physician can tell you that it is safe ; any one who has tried it will be 
likely to say it is more. 

An Alleged Remedy for Hydrophobia. — When bitten by a rabid dog 
bathe the wound with warm vinegar and water, and when this has dried 
pour a few drops of muriatic acid upon the bite, which will destroy the 
poison of the saliva and relieve the patient from all danger. An old 
German forester discovered the remedy, which he said had been used 
successfully for fifty years. 

Hydrophobia. — Garlic has always had a great reputation among anti- 
hydrophobia remedies, and is found as a principal integral portion in a 
large number of formulae long kept secret. A young man bitten by a 
mad dog was shut up in a loft. In his delirium he seized upon some 
bundles of dried garlic, ate greedily of it, fell into a deep sleep, and 
awoke calm and cured. 

— Youatt, the well-known veterinary surgeon, who has been bitten 
eight or ten times by rabid animals, says that crystals of the nitrate of sil- 
ver rubbed into the wound will positively prevent hydrophobia in the bit- 
ten person or animal. 

Mixture for a Cotigh or Cold. — Take one teacupful of flaxseed and 
soak it all night. In the morning put into a kettle two quarts of water, a 
handful of liquorice-root split up, one quarter of a pound of raisins broken 
in half. Let all boil half an hour or more, watching and stirring, that the 
mixture may not burn. Then strain and add lemon-juice and sugar. 

Flaxseed Syrup. — This excellent remedy for cough is made thus : Boil 
one ounce of flaxseed in a quart of water for half an hour ; strain and add 
to the liquor the juice of two lemons and half a pound of rock candy. UL 



RECIPES FOR THE SICK ROOM. 12$ 

the cough is accompanied by weakness and a loss of appetite, add half an 
ounce of powdered gum-arabic. Set this to simmer for half an hour, stir- 
ring it occasionally. Take a wine-glassful when the cough is trouble- 
some. 

Reviedy for Earache. — Take a bit of cotton batting, put upon it a pinch 
of black pepper, gather it up and tie it ; dip it in sweet oil and insert it in 
the ear. Put a flannel bandage over the head to keep it warm. It will give 
immediate relief. • 

Cure for Hiccough. — Hold both the patient's wrists tightly, and it will 
stop the hiccoughs immediately. 

To Cure Sore Throat. — Take the whites of two eggs and beat them with 
two spoonfuls of white sugar ; grate in a little nutmeg, and then add a pint 
of lukewarm water. Stir well and drink often. Repeat the preparation 
if necessary, and it will cure the most obstinate case of hoarseness in a 
short time. 

Recipe for Croup. — Take the yolk of an ^g'g, stir into it a teaspoon and 
a half of rye meal; spread this on a cloth and apply it to the throat and 
keep the child warm. If it is very tight before you can apply this remedy, 
cause a vomit, and then put on the egg. 

To Cure Corns. — Take the substance which sticks to the side of a soft- 
soap barrel after the soap is used out, and mix with pulverized white 
chalk to the consistency of a salve. Apply every twelve hours in a rag 
until the corn is removed. It will cure every case of corns in six 
days. 

Sure Re^nedy for a Felon. — Take a pint of common soft soap and stir 
in air-slacked lime till it is of the consistency of glazier's putty. Make a 
leather thimble, fill it with this composition and insert the finger therein, 
and a cure is certain. 

Chapped Hands. — Rub the hands thoroughly with linseed oil, then wash 
in castile or bar soap. It will remove pitch, and when the hands have 
become grimy by hard work it will make them clean and soft. It is the 
best thing to remove cracks or sores in cows' teats ; moisten them with 
oil after the milk is drawn. It will also remove any scent from the hands 
after milking. 

Lemon for Cough. — Roast the lemon very carefully without burning it; 
when it is hot, cut and squeeze into a cup upon three ounces of sugar, 
finely powdered. Take a spoonful whenever your cough troubles you. 
It is good and agreeable to taste. Rarely has it been known to fail of 
giving relief. 

For Croup. — Slice onions, and put sugar on the slices in layers — the 
syrup being administered. Keep it before the people as a sovereign and 
almost instantaneous remedy. 

To Cure Hoarseness. — When the voice is lost, as is sometimes the case 
from the effects of a cold, a simple, pleasant remedy is furnished by beat- 
ing up the white of an egg, adding the juice of one lemon, and sweet- 
ening with white sugar to the taste. Take a teaspoonful from time to 
time. It has been known to effectually cure the ailment. 

Remedy for Croup and Cough. — It has never failed in relieving a cough 
and curing the croup when given in season ; Sweet spirits of nitre half 
an ounce, sweet oil half an ounce, juice of one large lemon, honey one 
gill, lobelia half an ounce ; dose, one teaspoonful every time you cough. 
Shake the bottle well every time before turning out. 



124 FACTS WORTH KNOWING?. 

Neuralgia. — A very simple relief for neuralgia is to boil a handful of 
lobelia in a half pint of water till the strength is out of the herb, then 
strain it off and add a teaspoonful of fine salt. Wring cloths out of the 
liquid as hot as possible and spread over the parts affected. It acts like a 
charm. Change the cloths as soon as cold tiU the pain is gone; then 
cover the place with a soft dry covering till all perspiration is over, so as 
to prevent taking cold. 

Antidote for Poison. — A standing antidote for poison by dew, poison 
oak, ivy, etc. is to take a handful of quicklime, dissolve in water, let it 
stand half an hour, then paint the poisoned parts with it. Three or four 
applications will never fail to cure the most aggravated cases. Poison 
from bees, hornets, spider bites, etc. is instantly arrested by the applica- 
tion of equal parts of salt and bicarbonate of common soda well rubbed 
in on the place bitten or stung. 

— A piece of cotton moistened and filled with salt and alum applied 
to an aching tooth will give instant relief. 



FACTS WORTH KNOWING. 



EXCELLENT INTEREST RULES. 

For finding the interest on any principal for any number of days, the 
answer in each case being in cents, separate the two right-hand figures 
of answer to express in dollars and cents : 

Four per cent. — Multiply the principal by the number of days to run, 
separate right-hand figure from product and divide by 9. 

Five per cent. — Multiply by number of days and divide by 72. 

Six per cent. — Multiply by number of days, separate right-hand figure 
and divide by 6. 

Eight per cent. — Multiply by number of days and divide by 42. 

Nine per cent. — Multiply by number of days, separate right-hand fig- 
ure and divide by 4. 

Ten per cent. — Multiply by number of days and divide by 36. 

Twelve per cent. — Multiply by number of days, separate right-hand 
figure and divide by 3. 

Fifteen per cent. — Multiply by number of days and divide by 24. 

SQUARE RODS AND FEET IN AN ACRE. 

An acre contains 43,560 square feet. 

A plot of ground 2o8f feet square is very near an acre, being just ^^ 
of a rod over. A nearer approximation is 208 feet and 8| inches. The 
square of this number differs less than a foot from an acre, being 43>5S9i 
feet. 

A plot of ground 12 rods 10 feet and Z\ inches square is an acre. For 
ordinary purposes it will answer to take a plot I2| rods square, which 
will give i6o| rods, 160 being an acre. 

An acre is contained in a plot 3 by 53i rods, or 4 by 40, or 5 by 32, 
or 6 by 26|, or 7 by 22^^, or 8 by 20, or 9'by 17^, or 10 by 16, or 11 by 
I4y^y, or 12 by 13^. Our farmer-boys can soon learn this last table, and 
it will often be of use to them. 



FACTS WORTH KNOWING. 12$ 



BUSINESS LAW. 



The following compilation is worth a careful preservation, as it contains 
the essence of a large amount of business law : 

A note made on Sunday is void. 

Contracts made on Sunday cannot be enforced. 

A note made by a minor is void. 

A contract made with a minor is void. 

A contract made wi\h a lunatic is void. 

A note obtained by fraud or from a person in a state of intoxication can- 
not be collected. 

It is a fraud to conceal a fraud. 

If a note is lost or stolen, it does not release the maker; he must pay it 
if the consideration for which it was given and the amount can be proven. 

Notes bear interest only when so stated. 

Principals are responsible for the acts of their agents. 

Each individual in a partnership is responsible for the whole amount of 
the debts of the firm, except in cases of special partnership. 

Ignorance of the law excuses no one. 

The law compels no one to do impossibilities. 

An agreement without consideration is void. 

Signatures made with a lead pencil are good in law. 

A receipt for money is not always conclusive. 

The acts of one partner bind all the rest. 

" Value received " is usually written in a note, and should be, but is 
not necessary. If not written it is presumed by the law or may be sup- 
plied by proof. 

A note indorsed in blank (the name of the indorser only written) is 
transferable by delivery, the same as if made payable to bearer. 

If the time of payment of a note is not inserted, it is held payable on 
demand. 

The time of payment of a note must not depend upon a contingency. 
The promise must be absolute. 

A bill may be written upon any paper or substitute for it, either with ink 
or pencil. 

The payee should be distinctly named in the note, unless it is payable to 
bearer. 

An indorsee has a right of action against all whose names were on the 
bill when he received it. 

No consideration is sufficient in law if it be illegal in its nature. 

Checks or drafts should be presented during business hours ; but in this 
country, except in the case of banks, the time extends through the day 
and evening. 

If two or more persons as partners are jointly liable on a note or bill, 
due notice to one of them is sufficient. 

If a note or bill is transferred as security, or even as payment of a prQ- 
existing debt, the debt revives if the note i§ dishonored, 



INDEX. 



PAGE 

AGRICULTURAL 

STATIONS .... 40 
Atmospheric Fertility . 41 

Anemometer 39 

Ants, To get Rid of . .113 

Air, Purified 120 

Antidote for Poison . . 124 

Ayrshire Cows 51 

Art of Feeding Cows . . 61 

Art of Milking 63 

Accounts 96 

Advertisements .... 96 

Animals 96 

Ashes 97 

Atmospheric Pressure . 17 
Action of the Winds . . 19 
Air, Moisture of the . . 21 
Acre, Measurement of an 124 

Best, The 44 

BEES, Wintering of . 69 
In Bee-house .... 69 

In Cellar 70 

In Clamps 70 

Box Wintering . ... 71 
Chaff or Sawdust Hive 71 
Management of ... 71 
Natural History of . . 72 

Barometer 35 

Bright Lights 115 

Beef, To Salt ...... 109 

Buckwheat, To Remove 
Stains with .... 116 

Bread, To Make .... 118 

Bunions, To Cure . . .119 
Burns and Scalds . 119, 120 
Bread, How to Toast . . 120 

Beef Tea 120 

Burns 121 

Bleeding 121 

Business Law 125 

Boots, WaterproofGrease no 
Boot Soles, Water-tight 112 

Barley 81 

Beans 81 

Buckwheat 81 

Butter 94 

Barns and Barriyards . 74 
Blanketing Horses ... 68 
Brush and Rubbish . . 77 

Beeves 90 

Bags, Barrels and Baskets 97 

Birds 97 

Beets 87 

COW, THE 47 

Dutch, Friesian or Hol- 

steins 47 

Shorthorns 49 

Devons 51 

Ayrshires 51 

Jerseys 53 

Guernseys 55 

Herefords 56 

Galloways 56 

Kerrys 56 

Swiss Cattle 57 

What Farmers Want 57 

126 



PAGE 

How to Choose a Good 

Cow 58 

Guenon's Method . . 60 
Maintaining in Profit 61 
Art of Feeding .... 61 
Management of ... 62 
Art of Milking .... 63 
Points in Cows ... 64 

CROPS, Cultivated . 79 

Barley 81 

Beans 81 

Buckwheat 81 

Corn 82 

Corn, Smut in .... 82 
Corn Shocking .... 82 

Cornstalks 83 

Corn Husking .... 83 

Flax 83 

Hemp 83 

Millet 83 

Oats 81 

Pease 81 

Pumpkins 83 

Rye 81 

Sorghum 83 

Tobacco 83 

Wheat 79 

Cautionary Signal, The . 34 

Calendar for the Flower, 
Fruit and Vegetable 
Garden loi 

Cycle Theory, The . . . 

Cattle, Stall-feeding . . 

Crops, The Division of . 

Cheap Wash for Build- 
ings ._ 

Cheap Paint 

Cheap Snow-plow . . . 

Cements . . . 108,112- 

Concrete 

Cisterns, How to Make . 

Carbonate of Soda . . . 

Calcimining 

Clothes Line 

Collars, Soiled 

Cellars, Dry 

Casts, Plaster 

China, To Mend .... 

Clean Silver 

Clear Cellars of Rats . 

Cure for Bone Felon . . 

Croup, Cure for ... . 

Cracked Wheat .... 

Clothes on Fire .... 

Catarrh, Cubeb-berries 
for ........ 

Cough, Whooping . . . 

Cancer, Cure for .... 

Cough or Cold, Mixture 
for 

Croup, Recipe for . . . 123 

Corns, Cure for .... 123 

Chapped Hands .... 123 

Cough, Lemon for . . .123 

Croup and Cough, Rem- 
edy for 123 



PAGB 

Corn 82 

Corn, Smut in 82 

Corn Shocking 82 

Cornstalks 83 

Corn Husking 83 

Cellars 74 

Clover 86 

Cattle 89 

Calves 89 

Clouds, Indication of . . 22 
Cyclones, Storms and . 23 
Cholera, Chicken ... 95 

Carrots 87 

Cabbage 87 

Contents of an Acre . . 124 
Division of the Crop . . 46 
DAIRY, THE .... 94 

Butter 94 

De Voe's Rules for Wind 
and Weather ... 5 

Dry Cellars 115 

Dress Wash 115 

Diphtheria, Lemon-juice 

in 121 

Dutch, or Holstein 

Cows 47 

Devon Cows 51 

Dogs 93 

Debts 97 

Draining 76 

Ditching 76 

Espj''s Weather-Laws . 28 

Egg-Preserver 108 

Ebonizing Wood . . . 113 

Earache 119, 123 

Eaves-Troughs .... 97 
FLOWER.FRUITand 
VEGETABLE 
Garden Calendar 101 
January — February — 

March loi 

April — May 102 

June — ^July 103 

August — September . 104 
October — November . 105 

December 106 

FORECASTING THE 
WEATHER FOR 
SHORT PERI- 
ODS 13 

Farmers' Homes .... 43 

FARM BUILDINGS . 73 

Barns and Barnyards 74 

Cellars 74 

Fences 74 

Stables 74 

Fecundity of Animals . 68 
Fertility, Atmospheric . 41 

Filter 107 

Flies 113 

Feathers 114 

Fleas, To Exterminate . 114 
Feet, Important Hints . 119 
Flour and Milk, Boiled . 120 

Fainting lao 

Flaxseed Syrup .... 129 



INDEX. 



127 



PAGE 

Felon, Remedy for . . . 123 
Facts Worth Knowing . 124 
Fire, Clothes on ... . 120 

Flax 83 

Fences . . ^ 74 

Feeding Oats 67 

Fodder 87 

Farmers' Clubs .... 97 

Food 98 

Fallows 78 

Good and Bad 44 

Gestation in Domestic 

Animals 68 

Period of Gestation . 68 
Period of Reproduc- 
tion 68 

Power of Reproduc- 
tion 68 

Garden Calendar . . . loi 

Flower loi 

Fruit loi 

Vegetable 101 

Ground Glass 115 

Grease on Carpets . . .116 

Grape Wine 117 

Glue, Liquid 117 

Grease for Boots, Water- 
proof no 

Guernsey Cows . .' . . 55 
Galloway Cows .... 56 
Guenon's Method ... 60 

Grass Seed 86 

HOW THE WEATH- 
ER - PROPHETS 
PROGNOSTI- 

CATE 3 

Prof.Vennor's System 3 
Prof. Tice's Predic- 
tions 4 

De Voe's Rules ... 5 

HORSE POINTS. . . 67 

Feeding Oats .... 67 

Blanketing 68 

Worms 68 

Interfering 68 

Heaves 68 

HERBAGE and FOR- 
AGE 86 

Clover 86 

Fodder 87 

Grass Seed 86 

Haying 87 

Mowings 87 

Meadows 87 

Pastures 86 

Stacks 87 

Stubble Land .... 87 
Winter Rape .... 86 

Hygrometer 38 

Homes, Farmers' ... 43 
How Weather-Maps are 

Made 14 

Harness Polish .... in 
Hams, To Keep Perfect 115 
Hair-Brushes, To Wash 115 
Household Notes . . .118 
Hydrophobia, Remedies 



PAGE 

Hiccough, Cure for . . 123 
Hoarseness, To Cure . . 123 
House, Rat-proof . . . 108 
Horses," Pink-eye" in . no 
Hereford Cows .... 56 
How to Choose a Good 

Cow 58 

Hemp 83 

Heaves in Horses ... 68 

Haying . 87 

Horses 88 

Harness 98 

Hoove 98 

Hoeing 78 

IMPROVEMENTS. . 76 
Brush and Rubbish . 77 
Roads and Paths ... 77 

Roofs 77 

Stones 77 

Weeds 77 

Yards 77 

Influenza (" Pink-eye ") no 
Ink, Recipe for . . . .114 
Ivory, Spots on . . , .116 

Ink on Carpet 116 

Interfering, Horses ... 68 

Ice 98 

Irrigation 78 

Indications 12 

Interest Rules, Excellent 124 

Jersey Cows 53 

Kettles, New 114 

Kerry Cows 56 

LIVE-STOCK .... 88 

Horses 88 

Cows 88 

Cattle 89 

Calves 89 

Beeves 90 

Sheep 90 

Lambs 92 

Oxen 92 

Swine 93 

Dogs 93 

Lice, For Killing . . . ni 

Liquid Glue 117 

Lamp Chimneys .... 117 
Lemon-juice in Diphthe- 
ria 121 

Lemon for Cough . . . 123 
Liniment, Rheumatic . 122 

Lambs 92 

Lime 79 

MACHINES AND IM- 
PLEMENTS ... 75 

Rakes 75 

Tedders 76 

MANURE 78 

Lime *. . 79 

Tanbark 79 

MISCELLANEOUS . 96 

Accounts 96 

Advertisements ... 96 

Animals 96 

Ashes 97 

Bags, Barrels and Bas- 
kets 97 

Birds 9J 



PAGE 

Debts 97 

Eaves-Troughs ... 97 
Farmers' Clubs ... 97 

Food 98 

Harness 98 

Hoove 98 

Ice 98 

Markets 98 

Maple Sugar .... 98 

Racks 98 

Rats 98 

Sundry Matters ... 98 

Sunshine 99 

Seeds 99 

Timber Lands .... 99 

Trees 99 

Ventilators 99 

Water 99 

Wood 100 

Wool 100 

Work 100 

Wagons 100 

Meteorological Reports 14 
Mullein Seed, a Good 

Remedy 109 

Metric System . . . .113 
Mosquitoes, To Expel . 113 
Marble, To Clean . . .116 

Meat, Fresh 117 

Millet 83 

Mowings 87 

Meadows 87 

Markets 98 

Maple Sugar 98 

Mangolds 87 

NEW EXPOSITION, 
A — The Cycle Theory 7 
Cases in Point .... 8 
Other Cycle Winters . 8 
When the Theory 

Failed S 

Why it Failed .... o 
NOTES AND SUG- ' 
GESTIONS. ... 73 
Farm Buildings • • . 73 
Machines and Imple- 
ments 75 

Preparation of the 

Land 76 

Improvements .... 76 
Tillage Operations . . 78 

Manure 78 

Cultivated Crops . . 79 

Root Crops 84 

Herbage and Forage . 86 

Live-Stock 88 

Dairy 94 

Poultry 94 

Miscellaneous .... 96 

Nails no 

Notes, Household . . . 118 

Neuralgia 124 

One Continuous Harvest 45 
Oiling Harness-Leather 109 
Oil Marks on Wall- 

Paper n6 

Oats 81 

Oxea . .. . ,. . . . . . 92 



128 



INDEX. 



PAGE 

Practical Use of Meteor- 
ological Reports and 

WEATHER-MAPS 14 

Weather- Bulletins . . 15 

Abbreviations Used . 16 

Atmospheric Pressure 17 

Winds and their Law. 17 

Prevailing Winds . . 18 

Action of the Winds . 19 

Temperature .... 20 

Moisture of the Air . 21 

Indications of Clouds 22 

Storms and Cyclones . 23 

Rain- or Snow-Storms 24 

Storm Disturbances . 25 

Prediction of Storms . 26 

PREPARATION OF 

THE LAND ... 76 

Draining 76 

Ditching 76 

POULTRY 94 

Care of 95 

Roup 95 

Pip 95 

Chicken Cholera ... 95 
Points of a Horse ... 67 

Paint, Cheap 107 

Paints, Selecting . . . no 
" Pink-eye" in Horses, no 
Poli.sh, Harness . . . .111 

Pigs Ill 

Paste ......... 114 

Plaster Casts .... .115 

Poison 119 

Poison Ivy 122 

Poison, Antidote for . . 124 

Pastures 86 

Pip in Poultry .... 95 

Potatoes 83 

Pitting Roots 87 

Plowing ........ 78 

Rain g 

Redfield's Theory of 

Storms 27 

READING OF 

WEATHER - IN- 
STRUMENTS . . 35 

Barometer 35 

Thermometer .... 37 
Self-registering Ther- 
mometer 38 

Hygrometer 38 

Anemometer .... 39 

Rain-Gauge 39 

ROOT CROPS ... 84 

Roots 83 

Potatoes 83 

Turnips 83 

Mangolds 87 

Beets ........ 87 

Carrots 87 

Cabbage 87 

Pitting Roots .... 87 

Soft Roots 87 

Rain-Gauge 39 

Recipes for the Farm . 107 
Hecipes for the Stable , 110 



PAGE 

Recipes for the House- 
hold 112 

Recipes for the Sick- 
room 118 

Rat-proof House . . . 108 
Roofs, Repairing . . . 108 
Remedy, A Good . . . 109 

Rats 113 

Red Ants, To Drive off. 114 
Red Table-Linen, To 

Wash 115 

Rose-Leaves 115 

Rheumatism, Cure for . 121 
Rheumatic Liniment . . 122 
Roads and Paths ... 77 

Roofs 77 

Rakes 75 

Racks 98 

Rats 98 

Rain- or Snow-Storms . 24 
Roup in Poultry .... 95 

Roots 83 

Rotation of Crops ... 78 
Rules for Finding Inter- 
est 124 

Scott's Barometer Rules 30 
Stall-feeding Cattle ... 66 
Self-registering Ther- 
mometer 38 

Stations, Agricultural . 40 
Shingles, Fixing .... 107 

Snow-Plow 107 

Sprains, Remedy for . -. 109 

Salt Beef, To 109 

Scours, Remedy for . . 109 
Soda, Carbonate . . . .110 

Saddle-galls in 

Scratches, Remedy for .111 

Soiled Collars 114 

Stain, Walnut . . . . . 114 

Spots, Ink . . . . . . .116 

Spermaceti, To Remove 116 
Stoves, Cement for . . .117 
Silver, To Clean .... 117 

Salt for the Throat . . .118 

Stye, To Cure 119 

Scalds and Burns . 119, 120 

Sick Stomach 119 

Syrup, Flaxseed .... 122 

Sore Throat 123 

Shorthorn Cows .... 49 

Swiss Cattle 57 

Stables 74 

Stacks 87 

Stubble Land 87 

Stones 77 

Sheep 90 

Swine 93 

Sundry Matters .... 98 
Sunshine . .... . . . 99 

Seeds 99 

Storms and Cyclones . . 23 
Snow-Storms, Rain- or . 24 
Storm Disturbances . . 25 
Storms, Prediction of . 26 
Signs in the Sky .... 10 
Signs, General Weather- 10 



PAGB 

Signs in the Sun and 

Moon 12 

TILLAGE OPERA- 

TIONS 78 

Fallows 78 

Plowing . . 78 

Irrigation 78 

Hoeing 78 

Rotation of Crops . . 78 

The Cow 47 

To Forecast the Weath- 
er for Short Periods 13 

Thermometer 37 

Tice's, Prof., System of 

Predictions .... 4 
Telephone, Home-made 113 
Throat, Salt for .... 118 
Toast Bread, How to . 120 

Toast- Water lao 

Tea, Beef 120 

Tedders ........ 76 

Tanbark 79 

Timber Lands 99 

Trees 99 

Temperature 20 

Turnips 83 

Vennor's, Prof., System 
of Forecasting the 

Weather 3 

Velvet, Spotted .... 116 

Ventilators 6q 

WINTER WEATH- 
ER-WISDOM . . 10 
Coming Weather, The 10 
Signs in the Sky ... 10 
GeneralWeather-Signs 10 
Case in Point, A . . . 11 
Signs in the Sun and 

Moon 12 

Indications 12 

Weather-Maps ..... 14 

Wintering of Bees ... 69 
Weather-Indications . . 13 
Whitewash ...... 107 

Wash for Buildings . . . 117 
Waterproof Grease for 

Boots no 

Worms in Animals . . .111 

Water 99, 114 

Water, To Purify . . .115 

Wash, Dress 115 

Wine, Grape 117 

Wall-Paper 117 

Wheat, Cracked .... 120 
Whooping Cough . . . 121 
Worms in Horses ... 68 

Winter Rape 86 

Weeds 77 

Wood 100 

Wool 100 

Work 100 

Wagons 100 

Weather-Bulletins ... 15 
Winds and their Laws . 17 
Winds, Prevailing ... 18 
Winds, Action of the . . 19 
Yards 77 



HOW TO SELECT COWS 

OR, 

The Guenon System Simplified & Explained. 

BY 

WILLIS P. HAZARD, 

— .<».- «^Secretary of the Commission ^•<s>— 



A new edition, enlarged and revised, with new 
points; loo engravings, representing all the varie- 
ties of Escutcheons. 

With this book in hand, any one can safely buy 
stock and save much money. You can tell how- 
much milk a cow will give; how long she will give 
it, and how much butter she will make. Which 
bull to use; which calf to raise. 

8vo. paper, 50 cts. ; Cloth, 75 cts. 

Special terms made to those wishing to dis- 
tribute a quantity. Five copies in paper, ^2: 
three copies in cloth, ^2. It is published cheap, 
in order to circulate a knowledge of the system. 

Sent out free, by mail on receipt of price, in 
stamps or currency, by 

J. M. Stoddart & Co. 

721 Chestnut Street, 

PHILADELPHIA. 



A\-i^i.^ 



...Aj^^^ii^. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 





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